The Minister of Trade and Industry, Serigne Guèye Diop, is very active 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 solve the country’s most crucial problems. One of his biggest concerns seems to be to redress Senegal’s irresistibly negative trade balance. The more time passes, the more it widens to our disadvantage. Official data shows that the trade deficit, in October 2024, was 342.4 billion, while the previous month, the same deficit was 121.6 billion CFA francs.

The gap between our exports and our imports is mainly caused by the purchase abroad of what we consume. Very few local products feed the Senegalese. Even in sectors where Senegal could do without imports, we are forced to resort to external sources. Like many of his predecessors, Serigne Guèye Diop undoubtedly has the will to reverse the trend.  In the absence of the means to do so, he makes no secret of his priorities. He probably wants to reproduce at the national level the positive experience he had as president of the Departmental Council of Sandiara, where he was able to establish a free zone that succeeded in attracting various investors and industrial companies.

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Thus, we heard him on the national television channel, RTS1, declare that soon two sugar production units should see the light of day in natural Casamance, across the region of Kolda and that of Ziguinchor. The minister even stated that the studies of the project had already been completed and the documents submitted to the Prime Minister for approval. Without presuming what could come out of it, we can only note that this is not the first time that there is talk of setting up a sugar production plant 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 francs for the creation of a sugar factory, with a production capacity, at the time, of at least 100,000 tons. These figures, if they had been based on any reality, would have made it possible, at the time, to end Senegal’s sugar deficit. The funniest thing, if one can say so, is that Benoît Sambou, by migrating from Agriculture to Youth, took with him the sugar company file, and we heard nothing more about the affair. On the other hand, another agricultural project was put forward, which gave birth to Prodac…

Second-hand clothes replaced by the dust of national textiles

Full of resources, and certainly 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 clothing. We do not know what could motivate him. Senegal no longer has a textile industry worthy of the name, and the various government policies over the decades have dealt a mortal 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, create jobs and help to weigh on the trade balance. The problem is that, very few days after his sensational statement, he was forced to backpedal and go back, not on his statements, but on the way in which they were allegedly reported. Which simply explains that, if the will is there, the means and the provisions to be put in place are not yet there.

It must be taken into account that in 2021, more than 17,000 tons of “feug jaay” (used clothes) entered the country. Unfortunately, Le Quotidien was unable to obtain figures regarding the import duties of these products into the country. However, the information agrees that while small market resellers or those in certain neighbourhoods barely manage to support their families, large traders have no reason to complain about these products. Once in competition with cheap clothes from China, Western second-hand clothing is now booming. 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 recall that during the first term of US President Donald Trump, his « administration » (government) had entered into conflict with countries such as 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 that the poor in these poor countries had no other way to dress decently than to resort to « feug jaay ». We have not heard Museveni or Kagame try to come back on this matter. 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 sector.

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This will require no longer leaving support for farmers in the south-eastern part of the country, where cotton is grown, in the sole hands of Sodefitex, which has been nationalised, let us not forget. Revalued and better paid, it could possibly interest the country’s last textile producers, 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 could not expect to set up a textile factory overnight. But this embryonic industry could perhaps help revive Senegal’s once vibrant garment industry, of which the only remaining vestiges are the couturiers, who are praised across Africa for their talent and imagination.

Casamance is good. But why not the CSS?

The same is true of the Casamance sugar factories that we mentioned 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 told the Senegalese that they were not afraid of competition. In their minds, there is enough room for two or three other production factories. Doesn’t Côte d’Ivoire have 5 sugar production factories? Senegal could do the same. On the other hand, the State should not start encouraging smuggling by granting import permits to traders whose contribution to the balance of payments is close to zero. Often, these sugar importing traders do not have the same charges as the CSS, which produces and processes all its sugar on site.

The Mimran factory is the country’s largest 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 provides a living for about twice that number, through related trades and shopkeepers and other suppliers. While it is ramping up its production, it has been struggling for more than 10 years with a lack of land, which it says is preventing it from increasing its harvests.

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The idea of ​​transposing factories to the southern regions of the country will be beneficial if the said units manage to break the monopoly of production of the Css. The latter has never claimed it. Serigne Guèye Diop should also be congratulated for having been able to find, during this period, investors willing to put 50 billion CFA francs twice in this company. This is an initiative that will create jobs in the country, will help revitalize an economic zone, and will help curb rural exodus and emigration, whether illegal or legal. But if it is only a daydream, as in the time of Benoît Sambou and his architect, why not give the CSS the means to realize its promises and ambitions? With Mimran at least, we have seen something concrete to date.

Shops to sell bubbles 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 do not learn anything from the lessons of the past, and do not look at the path taken by their predecessors. Since the Sonadis, Senegal has known several models of reference stores. Even President Abdoulaye Wade, faced with the global food crisis of 2008, had tried it. The Ministry of Commerce at the time encouraged private initiatives to install « show stores », which were to sell at floor prices. This did not go beyond two years. The agents of Internal Trade, who were in service at that time, should remember this and instruct their chief. They would tell him why these initiatives did not prosper, and what should be done to avoid the announced failures. Otherwise, we can expect that Serigne Guèye Diop will soon come out with another false good idea, which will prove to be ineffective, and further undermine the credibility of the government’s word. It is true that around the table of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Diop must not feel isolated. He regularly sees another of his colleagues, who wanted to sell us bubbles instead of lanterns, by boasting about agricultural production figures, « never reached in this country ». Everyone was able to realize how right he was. Fortunately for everyone that one of them was able to discover that the fault was this wintering, which is not (their) wintering…

By Mohamed GUEYE / mgueye@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH