(Business in Cameroon) - For Luc Magloire Antangana, the Minister of Trade, Cameroon has a “good tea sector thanks to the privatisation of the tea division of Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC)” a public agro-industrial company which has however kept its activities in bananas, rubber and palm oil in the South-West and Coast regions.

The buyer (Cameroon Tea Estates) of the CDC’s tea division, highlights Minister Mbarga Atangana, “has just received CEMAC approval to have full access to the sub-regional community.” The cabinet member goes on to clarify that this approval enables the company to strengthen its product sales which were already “essentially on the regional market” because “the local market is facing unregulated competition.”

Indeed, market stalls and supermarket shelves are overflowing with tea brands from various countries, mainly China, while CTE produces approximately 1,800 tonnes of tea at its Ndu plantation and 1,500 tonnes at its plantation in Djuttitsa, two localities in the North-West region. CTE produces primarily in Tolé, “the oldest tea plantation in Cameroon which was created in 1928 and is located at the foot of Mount Cameroon,” which “gives Tolé tea a particular flavour.”