On 7 January 2022, cigarette retailers formed lines outside wholesalers near the BMD junction in Nouakchott, Mauritania. They were seeking scarce Marlboro and Congress cigarettes. Even a few cartons could yield more than a day's living expenses, so some vendors brought worn blankets and slept near the shops while others arrived before dawn.
A local report recorded a seller describing the scarce cigarettes as “red gold.” The phrase referred not to health or intrinsic worth but to the resale value created by shortage. Scarcity and price speculation brought retailers who normally competed with one another into the same line outside a wholesaler.
This queue shows that the value of a product is not decided only inside a shop. The hour at which a trader joined, the number of cartons obtained, and the customers waiting farther down the chain all helped shape the price. Before sunrise, the line drew market tension onto the street faster than any shortage statistic could.
Quality check: El Mouritany’s photographic report dated 7 January 2022 directly identifies a pre-dawn queue near a Nouakchott junction for scarce cigarettes.