(Business in Cameroon) - Between January and June 2021, Cameroon exported 3.8 million tons of goods generating XAF1,080 billion of export earnings, according to the National Institute of Statistics INS.

According to the public institution, which recently published a report on Cameroon’s H1-2021 foreign trade, the export earnings are up by XAF191 billion (21.5%) compared with the performance in H1-2020 when the coronavirus pandemic crippled foreign trades with confinement in most countries.

During the semester under review, Cameroon recorded significant improvement in its export of some products despite the resurgence of the pandemic with new variants being discovered worldwide. Those products include petroleum oils whose exports grew by 30.7% year-on-year, cocoa beans (up 34.2%), raw cotton (up 59.3%), sawn timber (up 6.6%), and raw timber (up 13.8%). These figures attest to the revival of economies in 2021 thanks notably to the coronavirus response measures taken by Cameroonian public authorities and CEMAC decision-makers.

The INS nevertheless comments that in H1-2021, the country’s exports were not that much diversified. As usual, just a small number of them generated the bulk of export earnings. Six of the products exported generated 80% of the earnings. They are notably petroleum oils (39% of the revenues), cocoa beans (13%), liquefied natural gas (9%), sawn timber (7%), raw cotton (7%), and raw timber (4%).