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According to the Cameroon National Institute of Statistics (INS), between January and June 2021, Cameroon’s export earnings stood at 1080 billion FCFA, with 3.8 million tonnes of goods exported.

INS’s latest report on "Cameroon's foreign trade in the first half of 2021", reveals that export revenues rose by 191 billion FCFA (21.5%) compared to the first semester of 2020, which was marked notably by great Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns that paralysed international trade.

Moreover, the increase in Cameroon's export earnings in the first six months of 2021 occurred amid the persistence of the pandemic, with emergency of new Covid-19 variants circulating globally. This did not prevent Cameroon from recording a remarkable improvement in the sale of certain products prized by international trading partners.

“The increase in export earnings is attributable to improved sales of some major export products namely crude petroleum oils which increase by 30.7%; raw cocoa beans (34.2%); raw cotton (59.3%); sawn wood (6.6%) and wood logs (13.8%)", INS’s aforementioned report specifies. These statistics attest to the resumption of economic activities in Cameroon in 2021. This situation translates the effectiveness of the Covid-19 pandemic response measures taken both by the Cameroon government and by CEMAC decision-making bodies in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea.

However, INS’s report highlights the lack of export diversification in Cameroon. As usual, these are dominated by a handful of products. The report further reveals that at the end of June 2021, six of the products, namely crude petroleum oils (39%); raw cocoa beans (13%); liquefied natural gas (9%); sawn wood (7%); raw cotton (7%) and wood logs (4%) fetched Cameroon 80% of its export earnings.

Source: Business in Cameroon of