Senegalese President Macky Sall has announced the lifting of the ban on peanuts export, local Wolof-language press reported on Friday.
In an interview with the local press, President Sall welcomed the encouraging results recorded during the harvest, revealing a record production of 1,826,590 tonnes of peanuts.
He said that Senegal is playing a “balancing act” that allows the state to have a good supply for making oil and the need to preserve the export market.
Sall welcomed the involvement of Chinese traders in the peanut marketing campaign, which has brought benefits to farmers by encouraging the peanuts export.
He said that the Senegalese government will help Senegalese National Oilseed Marketing Company (SONACOS) and industrialists gain enough materials to function.
“We need reforms. SONACOS needs to change its approach. SONACOS must go to the field. Staying at the factory and waiting for seeds to be brought to it, that cannot continue”, he stressed.
Sall advised the state-owned company to try to enter the export market, which he said is “a promising field”.
The current peanut marketing campaign started in November 2020. The government has set the base price at 250 CFA francs (about 0.47 U.S. dollar) per kilogram of peanuts. But in some cities, the price per kilogram reached 350 CFA francs.
Since the Chinese traders entering into the Senegalese peanut market in 2014, exportation of peanut products, in particular shelled peanuts, has relighted its traditional glory.
Senegal’s exportation of peanuts to China in 2019 is estimated at 327,000 tonnes, worth about 111.5 billion CFA francs. Enditem
