Controlling your prices starts with consuming what you produce.

Ten years ago, I wanted to export South African wine to my home country, Côte d'Ivoire. At the time, South African wine was starting to make a name for itself across Africa and was especially popular with Ivorians. As a consultant specializing in intra-African trade, I was delighted to promote a "made in Africa" product, when we had always imported this kind of product from Europe.

So I traveled to Cape Town, then to Stellenbosch, to visit vineyards and find the best value for money for the Ivorian market. In Worcester, about a hundred kilometers from Cape Town, I was warmly welcomed at an estate. The marketing manager almost felt sorry for me for living in Johannesburg, the Western Cape being so beautiful, and I understand the pride of those who have the privilege of living there.

I presented my plan to the sales manager: to export his wines to Côte d'Ivoire, provided the price suited my business model. His answer was blunt: their production was largely absorbed by the South African market, and they had no reason to export. Since I was looking to open a market outside their distribution zone, which was not their goal, they could not offer me a lower price. In short: "We are doing well, and we still have market share to win here. So your offer isn't necessary for us."

I took away one lesson: when local demand for your product is established, you do not depend on exports. And if, on top of that, you struggle to meet that demand, you are the one who sets the price.

That is precisely Africa's dilemma: it produces what it does not consume and consumes what it must import, most often from outside the continent.

Intra-European trade accounts for about 70% of European countries' trade, compared with only about 14% for intra-African trade. Without a sufficient local market and without exchanges among our neighbors, we remain dependent on foreign buyers.

Cocoa is the perfect example. We produce a lot of it, but we consume too little chocolate, hence a production geared toward export. The same goes for coffee. By contrast, cassava, which originates in Latin America, was transformed in Côte d'Ivoire into attiéké, which has become a flagship food, on a par with rice.

This is where we must focus our efforts: turning our agricultural products into finished goods that we consume ourselves, creating new products, and building local demand. One startup, for instance, has developed pallets made from coconut shells, proof that waste can become a resource.

As long as we produce for others, others will set our prices. The winemaker in Worcester did not give me a discount because he did not need to: his local market gave him the power to negotiate. Africa must gain that same power. Processing locally, consuming what we produce, and trading more among Africans means building solid local demand, reducing our external dependence, and finally becoming masters of our prices. The day we become our own first customers, we will no longer be subject to prices set elsewhere: we will set them.

Marius C. Oula