Senegal - International trade

Senegal suffers from a trade deficit. In 1991 the value of the country's exports equaled 79.6 billion CFA francs, although the value of imports equaled 100 billion CFA francs. In 1997 the value of exports grew far greater, equaling 177.8 billion CFA francs. Yet, the value of imports continued to outpace exports, growing to about 226.4 billion CFA francs. In 2000, the trade deficit reached US$341 million on exports of US$1.3 billion and imports of US$959 million.

Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Senegal
	Exports	Imports
1975	.461	.583
1980	.477	1.052
1985	.562	.826
1990	.762	1.220
1995	.969	1.243
1998	N/A	N/A
SOURCE: International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics Yearbook 1999.

Senegal relies heavily on primary commodities such as groundnut products, phosphates, fish, and cotton for its export revenue. Though France remains Senegal's largest trading partner, its share of Senegal's exports has declined steadily over the past decade. In 1990, about 34.4 percent of Senegal's exports went to France. By 1999, however, this figure had declined to 17 percent. Other important trading partners include India (17 percent), Italy (12 percent), Spain (6 percent), Mali (6 percent), and Côte d'Ivoire (4 percent). Over the years the amount of trade to the major industrialized European countries has dropped, shifting instead to Asian or other African countries. A recent publication by the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 2000) indicates that the industrial countries are importing less from the African continent. UNCTAD attributes this decline to the inability of African countries to compete with Latin American and Asian countries for the markets of the developed world. Senegal now exports predominantly to other developing countries. Many of these countries are African, the most significant of which are Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, and Nigeria. Developing countries purchased 67.6 percent of Senegal's exports in 1998 (January-June). This figure doubled over an 8-year period from 1990, when developing countries only accounted for 34.3 percent of all Senegalese imports.

Trade between Senegal and its West African neighbors has been facilitated through 2 regional trading organizations: the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which consists of 16 member-states, and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). The latter is a more integrated regional trading arrangement so that the 7 francophone states that share the same currency enjoy closer economic relationships and cooperation. UNCTAD suggests that most of the recent increase in trade between West African countries can be attributed to increased demand for primary commodities by the larger countries in the region.

Although Senegal exports primarily to developing countries, it continues to import most of its foreign goods from industrialized nations. France provided a majority of imports in 1999, with 30 percent. Other major importers are Nigeria (7 percent), Italy (6 percent), Thailand (5 percent), Germany (4 percent), and the United States (4 percent). Senegal imports from industrial countries because it requires many capital and consumer goods that it cannot produce itself. Imported capital goods are important to manufacturing industries, while luxury consumer goods are in high demand by Senegal's wealthy elite. Since neighboring African countries lack the modern industrialized economies necessary to produce high quality capital and consumer goods, Senegal must look to the developed world for such commodities.