(Business in Cameroon) - Banana exporters in Cameroon exported 136,048 tons of the products between January and September 2020, according to data compiled by the Banana Association of Cameroon (Assobacam). Compared with the volume of banana the country exported over the first nine months of 2019, the 2020 performances are down by 19,387 tons.

This drop in performance is mainly due to the decrease in the exports of Plantations du Haut Penja (PHP), leader of the local market. Indeed, the company’s exports slid by 21,033 tons during the period (from 142,621 tons in January-September 2019 to 121,588 tons in January-September 2020.

This drop in the volume of exports was also recorded by Boh Plantations (the third operator on the local market after state-owned CDC). According to Assobacam, between January and September 2020, the agribusiness company exported only 10,969 tons of banana against 12,814 tons over the same period in 2019. This shows a year-over-year drop of 1,845 tons in its exports.

With only 3,491 tons of banana exported during the period, Cameroon Development Corporation (the state-owned operator that resumed operations in June 2020 after months of inactivity) did not help boost the country’s exports.

Overall, the producers are paying the price of the dry season, which is increasingly getting harsher because of climate change.

Brice R. Mbodiam