(Business in Cameroon) - The International Maritime Transportation Facilitation Committee (FAL Committee), a consultation platform of maritime sector entities, is concerned about extended storage deadlines for coffee and cocoa at Douala Port, which has been experiencing a virtual “growth crisis” for 9 months which has provoked a slowdown in import-export activity. 

“The extension of export deadlines has very negative consequences for the economy. For agricultural products (cocoa and coffee) the prolonged stay at the port reduces quality (due to increased acidity) and could accelerate the devaluation of Cameroonian coffee and cocoa on the international market leading to devaluation that will affect both exporters and farmers,” states the FAL Committee in a release following crisis meeting held on July 1, 2014 in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon.

According to National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC) figures, Cameroon exported 146,685 tonnes of cocoa in late May 2014, which is nine months after the current season started in August 2013. This is a 54,000 tonne decline relative to the 200,915 tonnes exported over the same period the previous season.

On the coffee side of the business, in late May 2014, some seven months after the start of the Arabica season, only 883 tonnes of coffee have been exported compared to 1,199 for the same period the season before. This is a 316 tonne downturn. For Robusta coffee, the trend is also negative as, at the end of May 2014, exports for this variety of coffee amounted to 8,087 tonnes since the start of the season on December 1, 2013, against 8,406 tonnes the same period the previous season. Here again, there has been a decline of 300 tonnes.

However, reliable sources suggest that this decline in exports is not only due to the overall slowdown in activity at Douala Port, but is also because of a lapse in production in general. Producers’ prices are not yet alarming, averaging 1,000 FCfa for cocoa, for example.