Browse Data and Analysis

MY2024/25 cotton area harvested for Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso is estimated to decrease 17 percent to 981,000 HA. This is mainly due to decreased planted area resulting from a late rainy season in all three countries, as well as civil conflict in Burkina Faso.

Maintaining Hungary’s GE-free status remains a government priority. Although the country’s scientific and breeding institutions were supportive of genome editing, the EC’s legislative proposal on NGTs was caught in a political crossfire in October 2023.

This is a regional report on West Africa that primarily covers Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali, but also provides brief overviews in certain sections for Niger, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania.

Romania, a member of the European Union (EU), observes the EU standards and regulations regarding biotechnology. Most farmers view biotechnology as an instrument in managing the agronomic risks and sustaining their competitiveness.

Although Hungary regained its avian influenza-free status on July 3, 2024, the disease has returned.

MY2024/25 cotton area harvested for Mali, Senegal, and Burkina Faso is forecast at a combined 1.2 million HA, a one percent increase from the previous MY. A late start of the rainy season delayed planting in all three countries, and insecurity in Burkina Faso continues to prevent planting in many areas.

While the United States holds a 5-year average of less than 1 percent market share ($20.7 million in 2023 exports), Senegal has a growing food manufacturing industry that seeks cost-competitive ingredients and is expanding its exports to neighboring countries.

Romania continues to be a growing market for U.S. food and agriculture exports. Romania’s total resident population is 19.05 million people, which is a marginal increase from previous years, with about 48 percent living in rural areas (2023 data).

This market study examines consumer perceptions and receptivity towards purchasing U.S. foods and how those products may be successfully marketed in Senegal.

Senegal is a $3 billion dollar market for food and agricultural imports, including $1.3 billion in consumer-oriented products. The United States captures less than one percent of market share, with agricultural exports valued at 20 million dollars in 2023, including $12.3 million in consumer-oriented foods.

In 2023, according to Romania’s National Institute of Statistics (NIS), Romania imported $211 million of U.S. food and agricultural products, up nearly 11 percent compared to 2022. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's bulk, intermediate, and consumer oriented (BICO), U.S. suppliers shipped $79 million worth of food and agricultural products to Romania in 2023.

Senegalese cowpea production is estimated at 152,000 MT in the 2022/23 December- November marketing year (MY), a 36 percent decline from the previous year.