(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon imported more than 305 tons of cheese in 2018, France’s national dairy industry council (CNIEL) indicates.  

According to Laurent Damiens, CNIEL’s Chief Operations Officer, Strategy & International, despite this volume of exports, Cameroon remains a small market for French milk products. “This does not mean that we are not interested in that market,” he told Investir au Cameroun on July 23, 2019, in Douala, during  “Afrogourmands”, an event organized to promote the use of European milk products in African gastronomy.

During the period under review, Cameroon imported 1,835 litres of milk and dairy drinks from France, the same source reveals. Those imports were mainly supplied by large retail chains operating in Cameroon.

There is Casino group, which operates Casino and Leader Price supermarkets in Yaoundé and Douala. There is also Carrefour that recently opened a supermarket in Douala, in the framework of an expansion plan carried out in collaboration with Cfao Retail.

Carrefour, whose project to open a supermarket in Yaoundé is blocked by a land dispute, was preceded in Douala by another French chain Super U.

These chains, which are facing the increased competition of local promoters, sell numerous French milk products and mainly target expatriates and the Cameroonian middle-class.

Brice R. Mbodiam