(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), which has borne the brunt of the Anglophone crisis since late 2016, exported 15,712 tons of bananas between January and July 2023, according to the Cameroon Banana Association (Assobacam).

Although the volume of bananas it exported over those seven months is roughly the volume exported by market leader PHP in March 2023 (15,744 tons), CDC’s performance is up 31% (+3,712 tons) year-on-year. Indeed, in those seven months in 2022, the state-owned agribusiness group exported 12,000 tons of bananas.  

The figures attest to the improvement in CDC’s operations since 2021. According to the  CTR ( Technical Committee for the Rehabilitation of Public and Para-public Sector Companies), the company that operates vast banana, oil palm, and rubber plantations in the South-West and Littoral, recorded cumulative losses of CFAF41.1 billion between 2019 and 2021.

The losses were larger in 2019 and 2020 (CFAF17.9 billion and 18.3 billion respectively). In 2021, the losses dropped to just CFAF4.9 billion, almost four times less than the 2020 level. 

According to the CTR, the 2021 performance was the result of efforts made by the government to secure the company’s facilities. Those facilities were previously targeted by separatist militants advocating for the independence of Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions. Also, with the efforts made to secure its premises, the company was able to resume operations that it had to suspend between September 2018 and June 2020, due to insecurity. 

BRM