Business Opportunities in Mali

Opportunities for well-targeted, price-competitive U. S. exports to Mali's private sector may be found in agriculture, agro-industry, telecommunications, mineral exploitation, oil exploration, power generation and distribution equipment, machinery, new and used clothing, computers, processed foods, vehicles, electronics, consumer goods, office equipment, and water resources. Malian government contracts for donor-supported development projects offer additional opportunities. Such projects might require equipment and technical services for hydroelectric and solar power generation and distribution, irrigation, telecommunications, public health, and agricultural and agro-industrial development. France has traditionally supplied Mali with many imported goods, but imports from other countries, particularly China, have gained market share. Malian entrepreneurs are open to new competitive supply sources. Brief synopsis of commercial environment: Cotton and gold represented 80 percent of Malian exports in 2013. In 2002 gold eclipsed cotton as Mali?s leading export with approximately 42 percent of total earnings. After hitting an unprecedented record production of 66 tons in 2002, gold output declined during several years due to exploitation difficulties and the phasing out of one of the mines in the western Kayes Region of Mali, bringing output down to 42 tons in 2010. Gold output increased to 43.5 tons in 2011 and jumped to 50 tons in 2012 despite the security, institutional and humanitarian crisis in Mali since January 2012. Gold output increased to 51 tons in 2013. By 2007, the share of gold mining in GDP had risen to 8 percent. From 2009, tax receipts from gold were 20 percent of total government revenues. In 2012, the value of gold exports was 73.5 percent of total exports. In 2013, this number declined to 67 percent due to a decrease in world gold prices and difficulties encountered in some mines that are phasing out or that have exploitation problems. The Government of Mali has made mining sector diversification a development priority: cement production began in 2012, and uranium and bauxite are expected to begin in the near future. . Opportunities also exist in phosphates, iron and manganese. Cotton is Mali's second largest export. Expanding cotton production has increased Mali's foreign exchange receipts. After ranking first in 2003-2004 and second in 2004-2005 among African cotton producers with respectively 600,000 and 624,000 metric tons production, cotton output dropped during several years, down to 196,000 tons in 2008- 2009, due to poor rainy seasons and a drop in the global price of cotton, prompting farmers to experiment with more lucrative crops. After a slow increase in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, cotton production jumped up to 445,143 and 456,000 tons respectively during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 harvest as there was adequate rainfall, and many farmers decided to return to cotton farming due to better world prices of cotton. Production for 2013-2014 was limited to 436.000 tons due to insufficient rain falls.