(Business in Cameroon) - Agro-industrial member companies of the Association of Cameroonian oilseed refiners of Cameroon (Association des Raffineurs des Oléagineux du Cameroun - ASROC), have imported 2,000 tons of crude palm oil from Gabon, between May and June 2017, we learn from internal sources of this professional grouping.

According to our sources within ASROC, the sale price of this Gabonese raw material is much cheaper than that of Malaysian imports, which generally allow Cameroon to bridge the structural deficit in production estimated at 100,000 tons for years now, but which has officially attained 130,000 tons in the last two years.

This price advantage, explained by the proximity between Cameroon and Gabon (the region of South Cameroon borders Wolou Ntem in Gabon), could soon make this CEMAC country the principal supplier of Cameroonian palm oil refiners: in view of investments made there by the agro-industrial company Olam. As a reminder, Cameroon has become an importer of Gabonese palm oil from the Olam refinery, located in Awala, since October 2016. The biggest CEMAC economy, which will officially import 96,000 tons of palm oil in 2017, to satisfy the needs of local refiners, received an initial consignment of around 300 tons at that time.

Brice R. Mbodiam