(Business in Cameroon) - According to the latest edition of the Tropical Timber Market Report, just published by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), exports of Cameroonian wood to China increased during these past months, and further stepped up since the end of the dockers’ strike at the port of Douala, where more than 90% of Cameroon's foreign trade exchanges are carried out.

The same report points out that out of the Central African region, stocks of wood, particularly Sapeli, are high especially with the production in Democratic Republic of Congo, which is waiting to be sent to China and other foreign countries, via the port of Douala. According to NGOs, the increase in exports of wood from Cameroon and other African countries to China is not random. “These exports being directed towards the Chinese market is due to the fact that there is no real mechanism enforcing the legality of woods and by-products between China and the producing countries”, the Community and Forest Platform claimed in a recent report.

Based on statistics from this organisation, “about 2.5 million m3 of forestry products” of Cameroonian origin were exported to China during the 2009-2014 period. Approximately 85% of this cargo was made of rough lumber, it specified.

BRM