Recorded and unrecorded food trade in Nigeria (2014), Benin (2019, 2022) and Togo (2019)
Note: The ratio of country survey to combined ECO‑ICBT/BACI data is 7.5:1 for Benin, 2:1 for Nigeria and 0.5:1 for Togo.
Measuring the true scale of intra-regional food trade in West Africa requires going beyond official statistics. A unified dataset constructed by OECD/SWAC, combines recorded trade flows from the Base d’Analyse du Commerce International (BACI) with unrecorded flows from the ECOWAS Informal Cross Border Trade (ECO-ICBT) initiative and informal trade surveys conducted by national statistical agencies in Benin (2019, 2022), Togo (2019), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (2014).
The results are striking: actual intra-regional trade volumes are on average 4.6 times higher than official statistics alone suggest. Yet coverage remains partial. Most country surveys capture only a single year and a limited number of border posts, leading to major disparities.
For example, Nigeria’s survey covered just 16 posts (about 156 km per post), while Benin surveyed 201 posts (10 km per post). This 15:1 difference in border coverage between the two country surveys highlights the scale of likely underestimation in Nigeria, the regional food trade giant. A conservative assumption that half of flows were missed in Nigeria’s survey would add another USD 1.7 billion annually to the total value of intra-regional food trade.
These findings underscore the urgency of more regular, exhaustive, and harmonized data collection on informal trade. Without it, the role of intra-regional food markets in supporting economic transformation, food and nutrition security, and regional integration in West Africa will remain systematically under-appreciated.