(Business in Cameroon) - In H1, 2019, Cameroon exported 268,000 metric cubes of tropical logs to China. According to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the country’s exports is about 7% of the overall volume of tropical timber imported by China during the period under review.

The organization also indicates that the average price for the timber imported by China during that semester was $330 per metric cube (about XAF195,690), up by 6% year to year. This means that Cameroonian wood exporters generated $88.4 million (XAF52.5 billion) during the semester under review with their timber exports to China.

Despite this performance, Cameroon was the country that exported the smallest volume of wood to China. Indeed, during the period under review “China imported tropical logs mainly from Papua New Guinea (27%), Solomon Islands (23%), Equatorial Guinea (14%), the Republic of Congo (9%) and Cameroon (7%),” the ITTO informs in its latest sectoral report.

During the same period, China’s “tropical log imports from the Gambia and the Republic of Congo surged 344% and 61% respectively” while imports from Cameroon dropped by 21%, the ITTO adds.  

Brice R. Mbodiam