The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Serigne Guèye Diop, shows a lot of activism in the media and on social networks. This man, who manages some of the most strategic sectors of the government, wants to show that he is able to resolve the country’s most crucial problems. One of his biggest concerns seems to be redressing Senegal’s irresistibly deficit trade balance. The more time passes, the more it deepens to our disadvantage. Official data showed that the trade deficit, in October 2024, was 342.4 billion, while the previous month, the same deficit was 121.6 billion Cfa.
The gap between our exports and our imports is caused mainly by external purchases of what we consume. Very few local products feed the Senegalese. Even in sectors where Senegal could do without imports, we are obliged to resort to outside sources. Like many of his predecessors, Serigne Guèye Diop undoubtedly has the desire to reverse the trend. Failing to give himself the means, he makes no secret of his priorities. He undoubtedly wants to reproduce at the national level the positive experience he had as president of the Sandiara Departmental Council, where he was able to establish a Free Zone which succeeded in attracting various investors and industrial companies.
Thus, we heard him on the national television channel, Rts1, declaring that soon two sugar production units should see the light of day in natural Casamance, through the region of Kolda and that of Ziguinchor. The minister even affirmed that the studies of the project would have already been completed and the documents submitted to the Prime Minister for approval. Without presuming what could come of it, we can only note that this is not the first time that there has been talk of setting up a sugar production factory in Casamance. Already, in 2012, upon the arrival of President Macky Sall, his Minister of Agriculture at the time, Benoît Sambou, “driven” by a great architect specializing in white elephants in several African countries, had announced that he had mobilized 50 billion CFA for the creation of a sugar factory, with a production capacity, at the time, of at least 100,000 tonnes. These figures, if they had been based on any reality, would have made it possible, at the time, to put an end to Senegal’s sugar deficit. The funniest thing, if we can say so, is that Benoît Sambou, when migrating from Agriculture to Youth, took with him the sugar company file, and we never heard anything more about the affair. On the other hand, we highlighted another agricultural project, which gave birth to Prodac…
The second-hand store, replaced by the dust of national textiles
Full of resources, and above all not short of ideas, the Minister of Commerce announced one day, faster than his brain, his desire to put an end to imports of second-hand clothes and second-hand clothing. We don’t know what could motivate him. Senegal no longer has a textile industry worthy of the name, and various government policies over the decades have dealt a death blow to the Senegalese textile industry, which was one of the most dynamic in Africa. Perhaps Serigne Guèye Diop thinks that blocking second-hand clothing could help revive the textile industry in the country, help recreate jobs and help weigh on the trade balance. The trouble is that, very few days after his sensational exit, he was forced to backpedal and go back, not on his statements, but on the way in which they would have been reported. Which quite simply explains that, if the will is there, the means and arrangements to put in place are not yet there.
It must be taken into account that in 2021, more than 17,000 tonnes of “feug jaay” (second-hand clothes) entered this country. Unfortunately, Le Quotidien was unable to obtain figures regarding the import duties for these products into the country. Nevertheless, the information agrees to recognize that if small resellers in markets or certain corners of neighborhoods get by with just enough to support their families, the big traders have no reason to complain about these products. For a while competing with cheap clothes from China, Western second-hand clothing is now on the rise. And importers from America and Europe are not the last to rub their hands, because the market includes a very large part of African countries.
We remember that during the first term of American President Donald Trump, his “administration” (government) entered into conflict with countries like Rwanda and Uganda, which he threatened with trade sanctions, and even the cessation of certain American aid. The fault of these countries? Having announced their intention to ban the entry of second-hand clothes into their territories, because they contributed to killing local production. The American argument was to say that the poor in these poor countries had no other way to dress themselves decently than to resort to “feug jaay”. We have no longer heard Museveni or Kagame trying to return to this affair. We can imagine that among the prerequisites for the possible implementation of this decision, Serigne Guèye Diop and his government will try, if they have the means and the will, to revive the country’s cotton industry.
This will require no longer leaving support for farmers in the south-eastern area of the country, where cotton is grown, in the sole hands of Sodefitex, which has been nationalized, let us not forget. Revalued and better paid, it could possibly interest the last textile producers in the country, in particular Serigne Mboup who wants to relaunch his Kahone factory with Domitexka, or Ibrahima Macodou Fall, who had promised to relaunch the Nsts of Thiès. With the disappearance of Sotiba Simpafric and other textile producers, we cannot count on setting up a textile factory overnight. But this embryonic industry could perhaps help the revival of Senegal’s once vibrant garment industry, the only remnant of which are the couturiers, who are praised across Africa for their talent and imagination.
Casamance is good. But why not CSS?
The same is true of the sugar factories in Casamance which we spoke about above. Since its creation in the 1970s, the Senegalese Sugar Company has strived to meet the sugar needs of the Senegalese. Its leaders, Jean-Claude Mimran, its CEO, first and foremost, have always declared to the Senegalese that they were not afraid of competition. In their understanding, there is enough room for two or three more production plants. Doesn’t Ivory Coast have 5 sugar production factories? Senegal could do the same. On the other hand, the State should not start encouraging smuggling by granting import authorizations to traders whose contribution to the balance of payments is close to zero. Often, these sugar importing traders do not have the same costs as the Css which produces and processes all its sugar on site.
The Mimran factory is the country’s leading industry and one of the largest employers in the northern region of the country. In the Richard Toll-Dagana conurbation, it employs 8,000 people and supports around twice that number, through related trades and shopkeepers and other suppliers. Although it is increasing its production, it has been facing, for more than 10 years, an unavailability of land which it says prevents it from increasing its harvests.
The idea of transposing factories to the southern regions of the country will be beneficial if the said units manage to break the Css production monopoly. The latter has never claimed it. We should also congratulate Serigne Guèye Diop for having been able to find, during this period, investors willing to put 50 billion CFA twice into this company. It is an initiative which will create employment in the country, will revitalize an economic zone, and will help to curb the rural exodus and emigration, illegal or legal. But if it is only a daydream, as in the time of Benoît Sambou and his architect, why not grant the Css the means to realize its promises and ambitions? With Mimran at least, we have been able to see something concrete to date.
Shops to sell bladders instead of lanterns
It would be better than making us dream with “reference stores”. We have the feeling, listening to our Minister of Commerce, that our leaders are not learning anything from the lessons of the past, and are not looking at the path taken by their predecessors. Since the Sonadis, Senegal has seen several models of reference stores. Even President Abdoulaye Wade, faced with the global food crisis of 2008, tried it. The Ministry of Commerce at the time encouraged private initiatives to set up “show stores”, which were to sell at rock-bottom prices. It didn’t last more than two years. The Internal Trade agents, who were in service at that time, should remember this and instruct their leader. They would tell him why these initiatives have not prospered, and what should be done to avoid the predicted failures. Otherwise, we can expect that Serigne Guèye Diop will soon come out with yet another false good idea, which will prove to have no effect, and further undermine the credibility of the government’s words. It is true that around the Council of Ministers table, Mr. Diop should not feel isolated. He regularly sees another of his colleagues, who wanted to sell us bladders instead of lanterns, boasting of agricultural production figures, “never reached in this country”. Everyone could see how right he was. Fortunately for all, one of them was able to discover that the fault was in this wintering, which is not (their) wintering…
By Mohamed GUEYE / [email protected]
