Cameroon cotton exports plummet by 7.3% to China in 2013

Cameroon’s economy is highly dependent on commodity exports. The bulk of Cameroon’s cotton is exported to China and Europe, while about 10% is consumed locally, according to data from the state-run corporation. Société de développement du Coton (Sodecoton) announced 210,000 tonnes as its overall production for 2013 and decrease in Cameroon’s cotton export by 7% to china in 2013.

But despite the dip in cotton exports to China, Cameroon still holds number two cotton supplier position in the Asian countries, after Burkina-Faso which also experienced a 2.4% decline in exports to China in 2013, amounting to 95,000 tonnes.

Nevertheless, Burkina-Faso and Cameroon are still poised to soar among China’s cotton suppliers as other countries such as Mali (-50%), Benin (-25%), Zambia (-37%) and Egypt (-26%) saw their cotton exports plummet in 2013. China represents 60% of the global cotton market.

A group of domestic banks have approved a loan of 35.5 billion Central African francs ($73.9 million) to the state-run Cameroon Cotton Development Corp. to boost cotton output, Finance Minister Ousmane Alamine Mey said.

Mr. Mey, who negotiated the deal, said that he supervised the signing of the loan agreement between the banks and authorities of the corporation, Sodecoton, in Yaounde.

This money will be used to increase output and meet the 2014 target. It has a target to increase output to 260,000 tons in 2014.