Africa Report - No. 2 September 2005

FAO/GIEWS: Africa Report No.2 - September 2005 p.13

BENIN

In spite of above average cereal production in 2004, estimated at about 1.1 million tonnes, very high food prices have been reported across the country. This is due to higher-than-normal exports to neighbouring countries, caused by a drop in production in Sahelian countries and lower food supplies and high food prices in several other coastal countries.

CEREAL SUPPLY/DEMAND BALANCE FOR THE 2005 MARKETING YEAR (January/December)
	Wheat	Rice	Coarse Grains	Total Cereals
	[	thousand tonnes		]
Previous year production (incl. paddy rice)	-	65	989	1 054
Previous five years average production (incl. paddy rice)	-	54	924	978
Previous year imports	61	140	2	203^1/
Previous five years average imports	54	85	2	141
2005 Domestic Availability	-	39	1 095	1 134
2004 Production (incl. paddy rice)	-	65	1 045	1 110
2004 Production (incl. milled rice)	-	39	1 045	1 084
Possible stock drawdown	-	-	50	50
2005 Utilization	61	162	1 098	1 321
Food use	55	105	621	781
Non-food use	1	6	257	265
Exports or re-exports	5	30	220	255
Possible stock build up	-	20	-	20
2005 Import Requirement	61	123	3	187^1/
Anticipated commercial imports	60	108	-	168
of which: received or contracted	10	74	-	83
Food aid needs	1	15	3	19
Current Aid Position
Food aid pledges	-	14	3	17
of which: delivered	-	14	2	16
Donor-financed purchases	-	-	-	-
of which: for local use	-	-	-	-
for export	-	-	-	-
Estimated Per Caput Consumption (kg/year)	8	15	89	112
Indexes	[	percentage		]
2004 Production compared to average (incl. paddy rice)	-	120	113	113
2005 Import requirement compared to average	113	145	150	133
Cereal share of total calorie intake				36
Additional Information
Major foodcrops	roots; tubers; maize
Lean season	April-June
Population (000s)	6 964
GNI per capita in 2003 (US$)	440

1/ Includes 5 000 tonnes of wheat and 30 000 tonnes of rice for re-exports.

FAO/GIEWS - September 2005