Regional trade

East-west complementarities (between plateau regions and mangrove areas) and north-south complementarities (between the Sahel, the savannah and forests) stimulate long-distance trade.

Sahelian cereal and meat flows are mostly directed towards the coast. The tubers, fruit and vegetables of the Sudanese savannah supply not only the network of secondary towns criss-crossing this area, but also the cities of the coastal and Sahelian countries (for example, trade in rain-fed or off-season tomatoes supplies the coastal cities of Cotonou and Lagos). Harvested produce from the forest region is directed towards the consumption centres in the north of the coastal and Sahel countries, as is the case with the palm oil trade, from Guinea Bissau and Guinea to Senegal and Mali.

This trade, whose volumes are impossible to assess today, has almost certainly increased a great deal over the last few decades. Built upon old structured networks, sometimes well-linked to the informal foreign exchange market, they have benefited from the growth in urban demand and from improvements in storage and transport infrastructure. Economic liberalisation and regional construction (ECOWAS, UEMOA) are also favourable elements, even if the application of the principle of the free flow of goods, without any customs duties or quantitative restrictions, still poses problems.

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