USAID Office of Food for Peace Burkina Faso Bellmon ... - CiteSeerX

Seasonality of Prices and Market Integration
BEST ANALYSIS – BURKINA FASO
Prepared by Fintrac Inc.
Unimodal rains and a single harvest result in predictable seasonal variation in prices of major
cereals. As seen in Figure 11, average monthly consumer prices of white maize, millet and
white sorghum on Sankaryaré, the main cereal market of Ouagadougou, increase during the
lean season peaking during September-October, then fall with the harvest.
Figure 11: Average monthly prices of cereals in Ouagadougou’s Sankaryaré Market (2008)
Source: GOBF/MAHRH/DGPER, http://www.sisa.bf/sisa/
To investigate integration between national markets in different regions, a time series of
average monthly consumer prices of white maize, millet and sorghum across four markets was
analyzed. Data availability dictated the choice of markets, comprised of Sankaryaré in
Ouagadougou (Centre), Boussé (Plateau Central), Gourcy (Nord), Fada (Est) and Kongoussi
(Centre-Nord). Figures 11, 12 and 13 show the evolution of cereal prices from July 2004
through December 2008. Prices in Sankaryaré tend to be the highest across the markets,
suggesting its role as a terminal market. Prices of white maize co-move more closely than
prices of millet or white sorghum across markets, implying that the maize market is the most
efficient and highly performing.
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