According to the Composite Commodity Price Index published by the Bank of Central African States , agricultural products exported by the six CEMAC countries Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea grew by 1.9% between January and March 2022, as was the case in the previous quarter.
This situation regarding fertiliser prices has had a greater impact on the price of palm oil. By product, the strongest increases were observed on the palm oil (+18.4%), cotton (+13.1%) and rubber (+8.5%) markets. On the other hand, a drop was recorded in the price of sugar (4.1%) and tobacco (0.8%),” Beac analysts said.
This increase of around 30,000 tonnes, year-on-year, will continue over the next two years, reaching 425,000 and more than 450,000 tonnes respectively in 2023 and 2024, the same source said. With the calculator in hand, between 2021 and 2024, palm oil production in Cameroon should grow by less than 80,000 tonnes, while the structural deficit in the country has reached 150,000 tonnes since 2021.
Consequently, despite the announced upturn in production over the next three years, Cameroon will continue to import the red gold in order to guarantee the supply of processing units, which have invested tenfold in increasing production capacity over the past 10 years.
“This sustained rise is explained by the increase in the cost of fertilisers following the increase in the price of natural gas and the drop in supply, aggravated by the various restrictions on food trade due to the war between Russia and Ukraine,” the central bank of the Cemac countries points out.
