(Business in Cameroon) - In 2020, Togo became Cameroon’s leading African supplier and the 7th worldwide, according to figures published by the National Institute for Statistics (INS). During the said period, Togo accounted for 3.6% of Cameroon’s overall imports, we learn.

However, "the figures need to be taken with utmost caution because the only products imported from Togo are fuel and lubricants," the INS comments. For the statistics institution, as Togo is neither a fuel and lubricants producer nor supplier, it could not have supplied 300,000 tons of products in this category to Cameroon in 2020. The fuels from Togo are not produced in the country. They are rather imported through the Port of Lome which is attractive to economic operators that use the port platform to receive diverse products from abroad and export them to various countries.

Since the May 2019 fire outbreak that destroyed part of the plants of SONARA, Cameroon’s only refinery, the country has been importing finished petroleum products for local needs. For instance, for the current Q3-2021, the government recruited traders who would supply 390,000 metric tons of petroleum products for the domestic market.

BRM