(Business in Cameroon) - The Société Anonyme Agricole et Forestière du Cameroon (Safacam), listed on the Douala Stock Exchange (DSX), the stock market of the country, completed the construction of its new palm kernel production unit, as revealed by the first quarter 2016 report of Socfinaf SA, parent company of Safa France, which is itself the company through which French industrialist Vincent Bolloré owns 69% of shares in Safacam.
Though the cost of this investment has not been revealed, Socfinaf announces that thanks to this new plant, “the production of palm kernel oil will contribute to the increase in the turnover” of Safacam during this year. This new investment will primarily contribute to correcting the production deficit in this raw material in the country, and therefore facilitate the supply for the oil refineries.
From this point of view, we can recall for example that on 28 December 2015, the Cameroonian government had authorised the import of 60,000 tons of palm kernel oil and its derivatives. In this cargo to be imported, one could point out 5,000 tons of palm kernel oil, meant to meet the needs of the company Azur SA, a producer of vegetable oils and soaps owned by Cameroonian billionaire Nana Bouba.
An agro-industry managing oil palm and rubber tree farms in Cameroon, Safacam managed to stabilise its 2015 net result to FCfa 1.8 billion, despite a drop of 13% on the price of rubber. A performance made possible by the relative improvement noted in the palm oil branch, where the production increased by 311 tons last year. At the same time, the price per kilogramme of this product also increased by FCfa 33.
Brice R. Mbodiam