Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

Market prices for Zaria from January 2002 through December 2003
were obtained from the IAR-Samaru (Table 7).
Table 7. Groundnut prices for Nigeria: Zaria, Kaduna State 2003–2004 [prices by
month in Nigeria Naira (NGN)].
Month 2002 2003 Monthly average
January 50.6 - 51
February 65.26 39.25 53
March 73.7 74.8 74
April 82.5 77 80
May 74.8 81.58 78
June 82.5 105.23 94
July 103.18 101 102
August 96.8 104.5 101
September 65.27 68.2 67
October 62.33 73.48 68
November 65.63 91.3 78
December 65.45 99 82
Average 74 83
Source: IAR.
However, the picture becomes more complicated as we consider the
exchange rate between Naira and fCFA during the same period (see Table 7).
Groundnut price figures for Zaria market seem unrealistically high,
when converted to fCFA at official rates of exchange (which are highly fluid)
(see Table 8). However, it is very unlikely that official rates are used to make
informal deals across the border, although the implications of a fluid official
exchange rate are not clear, as accurate data on such transactions is not
available (Danguioua 2000).
Some deductions can be made, however, based on a regional exchange
rate analysis conducted by LARES, a collaborative sub-regional program
between Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad. The LARES study
examined actual exchange rates on a number of sub-regional markets, based
on the data and analysis of the DAEEFP (Minister of Finances and Economy)
Niger, the DSCN of Cameroon, the Nigerian universities of Zaria and
Maïduguri, and OBADA (Chad).
Although the sub-regional average was relatively close to the official
(national) rates – showing a 4.5% fall during the first quarter 2003, from 4.9
fCFA in January to 4.6 fCFA in March – significant differences were noted
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