(Business in Cameroon) - On May 1, 2018, during the labor day celebration, the managing director of SODECOTON Mohamadou Bayero Bounou revealed that in 2017, the company’s net result was CFA4.3 billion. This result is substantially higher than the CFA800 million revealed by internal sources in December 2017. 

According to the director, this performance is the result of the restructuration launched in 2016 with government’s financial support. Indeed, to boost SODECOTON which registered in the last three years  a net loss estimated at CFA35.6 billion, Cameroon promised to inject CFA30 billion.  

To date, the government has injected CFA15 billion and thanks to this financial support and its own funds, SODECOTON upgraded its equipment which are now operating at 90% of their capacity (against 51% in 2016). At the same time, because of the recurrent power cuts, the company installed a generator to ensure power availability.  

Thanks to a renewal of its transport service, SODECOTON now conveys the cotton produced from the cotton fields to processing plants thus avoiding the losses which could occur when the cotton gets wet. Coupled with an improvement of the working conditions, these measures boosted the agribusiness giant’s performance. Despite this revival, it should be noted that the company’s performance could fall again if the diverse supports are dropped. Indeed, in his speech, the managing director called on the government informing that despite this improvement of the company’s performance, it could fall if renovation measures are not applied. He then asked the government to fulfill its promise by disbursing the remaining CFA15 billion of the CFA30 billion it promised.   

Brice R. Mbodiam