Monopsony and export duties drove African crop prices artificially low

Evidence

Overall, the banks and companies in question responded to the logic of the ‘colonial pact’, which was centred around four fundamental rules: the colonies were forbidden from industrialising, and had to content themselves with supplying raw materials to the metropole which transformed them into finished products that were then resold to the colonies; the metropole enjoyed the monopoly of colonial exports and imports; it also held a monopoly in the shipping of colonial products abroad; finally, the metropole granted commercial preferences to the products of the colonies. This ‘colonial pact’ established relationships of dependence that forced the colonies to constantly adapt to the economic conjuncture of the metropole and to the requirements of its economic development. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 62 (#expands, via linked claim)

The fact that the CFA franc’s parity was set at an artificially high level, as we saw in Chapter 1, penalised African products: they were hard to sell on world markets, except in the context of the commercial preferences granted by the metropole. Conversely, the high external value of the CFA franc favoured imports, especially from the metropole. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 128 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: British cotton monopolies forced Sudanese economic development toward plantation agriculture; French development economics inherited colonial premises about exporting African cash crops; The CFA system blocks African countries from financing their own agricultural development — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 145 (+2 more)

Related

• British cotton monopolies forced Sudanese economic development toward plantation agriculture (similarity 0.88)
• An overvalued CFA franc penalised African exports while favouring imports from France (similarity 0.85)
• The colonial pact forbade African industrialisation and monopolised colonial trade (similarity 0.85)
• An overvalued CFA franc was engineered to reorient colonial trade toward France (similarity 0.84)
• The same strong euro that hurts France devastates African export competitiveness (similarity 0.83)
• A strong CFA franc forced colonial trade to flow through metropole markets. (similarity 0.83)
• Monopsonistic trading houses and export duties depressed West African crop prices (similarity 0.83)
• The CFA franc’s parity was set without regard for local economic realities (similarity 0.83)
• Free trade agreements would doubly penalize franc zone producers. (similarity 0.82)
• Monopsonistic commerce and export duties combined to suppress African crop prices (similarity 0.82)
• Colonial banks favored coastal areas and financed only production destined for France (similarity 0.82)
• The CFA franc was a political choice that deprived non-adapting African actors of credit (similarity 0.82)
• African deputies publicly exposed the CFA franc as a tool of the colonial pact (similarity 0.82)
• The CFA system blocks African countries from financing their own agricultural development (similarity 0.82)
• The CFA franc was deliberately overvalued against the metropolitan franc. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• The colonial pact forbade African industrialisation and monopolised colonial trade #expands (0.75) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 62
• An overvalued CFA franc penalised African exports while favouring imports from France #expands (0.65) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 128
• French development economics inherited colonial premises about exporting African cash crops #expands (0.60)
• The CFA system blocks African countries from financing their own agricultural development #expands (0.60) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 145