What was the content of your discussions with the government on the oilseed sector?
We came to reassure consumers and the State of Cameroon, represented by the Minister of Commerce. We’re in a sector that has two segments : a primary processing segment and a secondary processing segment ; the latter is fed by the former. As far as primary production is concerned, we barely produce 500,000 tonnes of crude palm oil a year, for a demand of 2,400,000 tonnes. Can you imagine the shortfall?
What’s planned to make up the significant shortfall in crude palm oil?
Despite this deficit, we’ve been working for over 10 years to avoid shortages. We’re doing this through consultation, mainly at the level of the Regulatory Committee at the Ministry of Commerce, but now much more so within Interpalm-Cam, which is the only interprofession in the real sense of the term that exists in Cameroon, bringing together not only researchers, but also producers, processors and marketers.
We realized that we had to think quickly about importing a portion of the deficit, because no refining company in Cameroon works at 50% capacity, and that’s good to know. You have units with capacities of almost 20,000 tonnes per month. This means that total production is likely to be taken up. We’ve set up an equation that allows us to allocate production on the basis of companies’ actual processing capacity, availability and location. In primary processing, you have CDC, Socapalm and Pamol in different locations. And when you are given your quota, you have to take from each of these units according to your capacity. So we’ve reassured the Minister that there will be no shortage. Because there hasn’t been one for over 10 years; we have a deficit that isn’t a shortage. The shortfall is in processing, but you know that not everything produced locally is consumed locally, especially soap.
We make over 33,000 tonnes of soap a month, and this is destined for domestic production, which stands at around 18,000 tonnes. The rest is exported to Central African countries, as well as to Sudan, Angola and elsewhere. In short, there will be no shortage because we’ve worked to ensure that the shortfall comes from imports on a temporary basis. People say we like to import, but we don’t. In the face of structural problems, we need short-term measures ; while waiting to plant, we need to import because we have to eat (bean fritters, koki) …
What is the approved price of refined oil for this special end-of-year period?
A 20-liter can will cost 43.03 USD (27,000 Fcfa). It’s good to know that the external purchase price has doubled compared with the national price. This means that the average price per liter will be around 2.15 USD (1350 Fcfa). But for one-liter packaging, although the approved price has been set at 2.39 USD (1500 Fcfa), we’re going to sell a little lower, i.e. 2.31 USD (1450 Fcfa) per bottle, so that we can enjoy the festive season and be happy to consume our locally-produced raw material.
We’re waiting to see what happens next. What’s important is that the Ministry of Commerce is currently consulting on prices. Even if your cost of raw materials or your overall cost of production increases, you’re not allowed to raise the price. The law states that there must be consultation, and at the end of the consultation process, an approval is issued and distributed. As you know, last year we reduced the price to 1,500 due to soaring international prices, and we even raised the cost of locally produced products. Despite these new price hikes, we have said that we are not going to increase prices. First we’ll get through the year, and at the start of the new year we’ll see if we need to ask for an increase or not. Because when we produce, it’s to sell, it’s for consumers; and if consumers can’t buy any more, what happens to us? We close the stores and then everything grinds to a halt.
By Aissatou Amirah and Leonel Douniya
