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Mining and Manufacturing
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Mining plays a minor role in Benin’s economy. The production of petroleum stopped in the late 1990s, but companies from other countries had begun oil exploration in Benin in the early 2000s. Some limestone is also produced for use in cement manufacturing, and gold is exploited and used by artisans. Most other mineral resources are undeveloped.
Manufacturing is generally small in scale. The chief manufacturing activities involve the processing of primary products, such as cotton and oil palms. Industry includes palm oil processing operations, textile mills, a cement plant, and a sugar-refining complex.
Small thermal electric power plants provide energy along the coast, but most of Benin’s electricity is supplied by Ghana’s Akosombo Dam. Benin produced 69 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2003.
Benin has 19,000 km (11,806 mi) of roads; the principal arteries run parallel to the coast in the south and from Cotonou to Parakou. The coastal road links Benin and its capital with Lagos, Nigeria, to the east, and Lome, Togo, to the west. The main line of the country’s approximately 579-km (approximately 360-mi) rail system runs from Cotonou to Parakou, and Benin also has rail connections along the coast to Togo and Nigeria. Cotonou is Benin’s chief seaport and contains the nation’s main international airport.
Benin is a member of the West African Monetary Union, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, and the country’s monetary unit is the CFA franc, which is subdivided into 100 centimes. An exchange rate of 1 French franc equal to 50 CFA francs remained in force from 1948 until 1994, when the CFA franc was devalued by 50 percent. The principal banks of Benin are in Cotonou.
Benin’s annual imports generally cost much more than its exports earn. In 2002 the country’s imports were valued at $727 million and its exports at only $304 million. Benin’s main exports are cotton and palm products; its chief imports are textiles, clothing, and machinery. Benin’s principal trading partners for exports are Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Thailand; chief partners for imports are France, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, China, and the United States.
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