(Business in Cameroon) - Banana producers operating in Cameroon had exported 116,812 tons by 31 May 2017, against 116,489 tons for the same period in 2016. These statistics just published by the Cameroonian Banana Association (Assobacam) reveal an increase of 323 tons in imports.

This improvement is mainly due to the actions of the smallest player in the banana market in Cameroon, the company Boh Plantations, whose exports increased by 1,166 tons compared to the same period in 2016. According to Assobacam, this producer exported 4,939 tons of banana at the end of May 2017, against 3,773 tons the previous year during the same period.

Upon analysis, the performance of the company Boh Plantations during the first five months of 2017, could be attributed to the European Union (EU) Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM) Programme (programme des Mesures d’Accompagnement Banane - MAB), from which Cameroonian producers benefitted, in the view, as highlighted by Assobacam, to “enable the sector to better face the challenges of the international market as well as the development and growth goals set by the Cameroonian government”.

In any case, this large increase in exports for Boh Plantations, which operates banana farms covering 260 hectares in the South-West region of Cameroon, helped to reduce the drop in volumes registered by Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), a company owned by the State and number 2 in the market, and by the company Plantations du Haut Penja (PHP), local subsidiary of the Compagnie Fruitière de Marseille, who controls approximately 50% of the local banana market.

Indeed, with global exports of 70,967 tons at end May 2017, the performance of PHP has decreased by 273 tons at end May 2017, as this company has exported 71,240 tons of banana during the same period in 2016. At CDC, the drop in exports is more important, with 570 tons, going from 41, 476 tons at end May 2016 to 40,906 tons only for the same period this year.

As a reminder, officially, banana is the 3^rd export product in Cameroon, behind oil, which represents approximately 40% of total exports in the country, and wooden logs or sawn wood, which represents about 15% of Cameroonian exports.

Brice R. Mbodiam

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