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The deep-sea port of Kribi is expected to, as of July 2, 2023, welcome a cargo of resin imported from Tunisia under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The cargo imported by paint and coating materials manufacturing firm Inoda Industries Sarl is the first to sail in Cameroon under the AfCFTA regime. This preferential trade regime officially became effective on January 1, 2021, opening up a liberalized intra-African market of 1.3 billion consumers to member countries.

"The above-mentioned cargo handling operation is of decisive importance, as it forms part of the test phase for the implementation of the AfCFTA, of which Cameroon is a pilot country along with six other countries," the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK) indicates in a press release. The six other countries taking part in that pilot phase are Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Mauritius, Egypt, and Tanzania.

According to the PAK, the resin cargo unloading will mark the beginning of tariff dismantling under the AfCFTA regime in Cameroon. In Cameroon, three product categories are identified to benefit from tariff dismantling under that regime. Category A is a list of 5255 products that constitute 90.01% of its tariff lines. That category will undergo rapid liberalization following a linear approach over ten years. By the end of those ten years, tariffs on those goods would be nil. Category B" includes sensitive goods (produced locally). It includes 408 products or 6.99% of the country’s tariff lines. Their tariff will be progressively dismantled over 13 years, with a 5-year moratorium.

First Cameroonian exports

Products excluded from liberalization form "category C", with 175 products, or 2.99% of Cameroon’s tariff lines. This last category includes products like wheat flour, maize flour, crude palm oil, refined palm oil, sugars, chewing gum, candies, pasta, fruit juices, Portland cement, cement glue, hair relaxers, soaps and shower gels, aluminum profiles, etc.

This classification is perfectly in line with that adopted in the AfCFTA agreement, which provides for the liberalization of 90% of tariff lines within 10 years for least developed countries (LDCs), and 5 years for developing countries, the dismantling of 7% of so-called sensitive products over 13 years for LDCs and 10 years for developing countries, and the exclusion of 3% of the remaining products from the tariff dismantling process.

In October 2022, Cameroon took advantage of this opportunity to boost intra-African trade, which currently stands at just 17%, by making its first exports under the regime. On October 19, 2022, Cameroon customs issued two AfCFTA certificates of origin to the Cameroon Tea Estate and Ndawara Tea Estate agri-businesses, for the export of 38.6 kg of made-in-Cameroon tea to Ghana. They were following in the footsteps of Gic Afatex, the first Cameroonian company to export goods (safflower, dried pineapple, and ginger) to Ghana at AfCFTA preferential tariffs. It started doing so on October 6, 2022.

Source : Business in Cameroon