Mauritania does not have one supply chain. It has three.
01 — Geography
Three routes, three prices.
Every good that enters Mauritania travels through one of three corridors.
The port of Nouakchott via the Road of Hope. The port of Nouadhibou via
the iron ore train. Or Senegal via the southern border.
We tested whether these corridors produce different prices.
For rice, the answer is no. For vegetable oil, the answer is
highly significant.
🛣
Road of Hope
Nouakchott → Néma
1,100 km of track and asphalt. Four days by truck. The dominant corridor, but not the most efficient.
Oil: 84.1 MRU/L
🚂
Iron ore train
Nouadhibou → Zouerate
704 km by rail. Traders travel on empty return wagons from the iron ore.
We compared Zouerate (supplied by the iron ore train) to markets
on the Road of Hope at comparable distance (≥400 km from Nouakchott).
For vegetable oil: 68.8 MRU/L in Zouerate against
84.1 MRU/L on the road. A difference of 15.3 MRU.
Welch's t-test: t = −10.47, p < 0.001.
Why the train costs less
The iron ore train transports iron from Zouerate to Nouadhibou.
On the return trip, the wagons are empty. Traders load their goods
onto these empty wagons. Transport costs are shared with the ore.
For rice, the difference is not significant (p = 0.148).
The train mainly transports heavy bulk products — oil,
sugar. Rice travels less by this route.
Average vegetable oil price by corridor. Last 12 months.
03 — The border
Senegal keeps prices low.
Southern markets — Boghé, Mbagne, Ould Yengé, Sélibaby — are supplied
by the Senegalese border as much as by Nouakchott.
For vegetable oil: 75.1 MRU/L average at the border,
against 84.2 MRU/L on the Road of Hope at comparable distance.
t-test: t = −3.59, p < 0.001.
Rice shows no significant difference (p = 0.635).
But oil does. Cross-border trade with Senegal —
a country with different trade agreements — creates a distinct economy.
Mauritania does not have one supply chain. It has three. And each has its price.
