(Business in Cameroon) - Financial motive. This is, according to the Cameroonian Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the main reason justifying the continued imports of cargo of sugar in Cameroon, despite an official ban issued by the government.

Indeed, Minister Mbarga Atangana revealed in an interview to the pro-government daily, after costing approximately USD 800 per ton (about FCfa 400,000) over the 2010-2012 period, a ton of imported sugar in Cameroon is only FCfa 280,000 nowadays. Quick calculation, imported sugar is 45% cheaper than the local product.

As a consequence, the imported product, whose market price is more competitive, is more in demand at the expense of the sugar made in Cameroon. This especially since, through various more or less legal mechanisms, importers often manage to get, if not customs exemptions, at least to prevent their products from being liable to the payment of the deterrent reference value to which is subjected the import of sugar in the country.

BRM