Business

Farmers in Cameroon's key cocoa-producing Center region are receiving lower prices paid for cocoa beans, about 3% less for a kilogram of cocoa on the farm gates compared with nearly two weeks ago, farmers and traders told Dow Jones Newswires on Sunday.

A kilogram of cocoa beans was selling Sunday between 1,200 and 1,320 Central African francs ($2.04-$2.24), down from the 1,250 and 1,350 Central African francs a kilogram of cocoa beans sold nearly two weeks ago, they said.

The farmers say the mainly middlemen traders buying cocoa at the farmgates are reticent to pay higher for available cocoa beans, although protracted dry weather doesn't guarantee big output in the ongoing midcrop and expected main crop outputs. They also complain that farmgates cocoa prices continued to fall while those at the port of Douala, Cameroon's export and import gateway, kept rising in weeks.

"But we've started accepting lower prices paid for cocoa because more cocoa is being harvested from the farms, while the stocks we've hoarded keep stockpiling," said Alphonse Emmanuel Nguile, the vice president of a cocoa-growing organization with more than 50,000 members.

With midcrop cocoa harvest entering high gear, farmers hoped for a price rebound when big exporters dispatched buyers to the province's farmgates. Most buyers had gone on a routine break that comes between the region's main and second crops.

Central Cameroon, which accounts for nearly 40% of the West African nation's national yearly cocoa harvest, began the midcrop cocoa harvest in the last half of June.

Expected in May, this year's harvest was delayed by prolonged dry weather between November and March.

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Rita Akana

01.Aug.2016

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The Société Anonyme des Brasseries du Cameroun (SABC), local subsidiary of the French group Castel, launched on 25 July 2016 in Yaoundé, the operation Plastic Recup Holidays 2016. Through this initiative, the leader on the brewery market in the country is planning to collect 2 million plastic bottles in two weeks, in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé.  

According to the management of this brewery, of which one subsidiary (SEMC) produces mineral water, Plastic Recup Holidays 2016 is meant to not only give an activity to the youth during the current school holidays, but first and foremost to contribute to the cleaning of the environment.

This especially, as experts highlight, plastic bottles represent, on their own, approximately 35% of the non-biodegradable waste in Cameroon. To reach this target, SABC recruited several hundred young people via the social network Facebook.

The latter will be deployed from 25 to 28 July 2016 in the neighbourhoods of Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital, and from 1 to 4 August in Douala, the economic capital of the country.

The operation, organised in partnership with the company Hygiène et Salubrité du Cameroun (Hysacam), ANPD Environment and the Coeur d’Afrique Foundation of former Cameroonian football star Roger Milla; also includes training the participants to the collection and recycling.  

As a reminder, Plastic Recup Holidays 2016 is in line with the regulation in force in Cameroon in terms of protection of the environment. Indeed, a government decree dating from October 2012, jointly signed by the Ministers of Environment and Commerce, stipulates that “every manufacturer or distributor of non-biodegradable packaging must set up a deposit system to facilitate the collection of said packaging, for their recycling or destruction”.

For interested individuals seeking employment, please contact Brasseries Du Cameroun through Facebook

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Rita Akana

29.Jul.2016

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President Paul Biya, has approved a multi-million dollar bailout for struggling national carrier Camair-Co (QC, Douala) Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, told state radio this week.

The assistance will entail a XAF60 billion (USD101.4 million) injection while government will also arrange for a restructuring of XAF35 billion (USD59.17 million) worth of debt of which XAF20 billion (USD33.81 million) is owed to state-owned enterprises such as telecom operator Camtel and Aéroports du Cameroun SA (ADCSA). The remainder is owed to various suppliers.

Under a Boeing Consulting turnaround plan drawn up late last year, Camair-Co will acquire up to nine additional aircraft by 2020 for use in serving twenty-seven destinations; nine domestic, thirteen regional, and five intercontinental said to include Paris CDG, Brussels National, Guangzhou, Dubai Int'l, and Washington Dulles.

Camair-Co operates one B767-300(ER), two B737-700s, and two MA-60s on regular flights to eighteen cities in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Benin, the Ivory Coast, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and France.

It was launched in 2011 following the closure of its predecessor, Cameroon Airlines (UY, Douala), in 2008. The latter collapsed under bankruptcy despite the government signing an agreement with SN Airholding, the parent company of Brussels Airlines (SN, Brussels National), to ensure future funding. Despite early optimism, Camair-Co has lurched from one crisis to the next with several changes in leadership having been effected over the years. At present, hamstrung with a bloated workforce, it registers monthly operating shortfalls of XAF1.5 billion (2.535 million).

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Rita Akana

29.Jul.2016

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The Cameroonian government has just awarded to a consortium gathering Afriland First Bank, Société Générale Cameroun and EDC Investment Corporation, the investment branch of the Pan African group Ecobank; a contract to arrange a bon of FCfa 150 billion.

The two parties discretely signed the related documents a few days ago in Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital. For the moment, the details of this new bond from the Cameroonian State, the 4^th of its type since 2010, have not been revealed.  

We can however note that to increase the likelihood of a successful fundraising operation on the Douala Stock Exchange (DSX), the Cameroonian government preferred to retain the services of three financial institutions as arrangers, and not a sole company as was the case for the three previous operations.

This option is even more understandable as the public savings fund collection the State of Cameroon is getting ready to launch will take place in a context of “contraction of banking liquidity observed since the first half of 2015”, as noted by the Monitoring Council of the settlement and security custody unit (CRCT) of the Central Bank of the CEMAC states.

A situation that the Central Bank attributes to the “sharp increase in the States resorting to the public securities market” (funds raised doubled in 2015 to FCfa 635.8 billion); a market on which more than half of the funds raised by the CEMAC States generally come from Cameroon, according to an estimate from the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance.  

As a reminder, in June, the National Refinery Company (Sonara) tried to sell 69,212 shares on the over-the-counter market of the Douala Stock Exchange, to raise FCfa 69 billion. But at the end of the operation, only 50% of the shares on offer were actually sold.

BIC

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Rita Akana

27.Jul.2016

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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Global Entrepreneurship Network of the US State Department have ranked Cameroon first, scoring seven out of 10 points, for its “MyBusiness.cm” online business registration system which is listed in the Global Enterprise Regulation portal. A certificate of “Highest Appreciation” was awarded during the Global Economic Forum organised by the United Nations Organisation on 18 July, 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya.  

Presenting the award to the Prime Minister, Head of Government at the Star Building, yesterday, July 26, 2016, the Minister of Small and Medium-Size Entreprises, Social Economy and Handicraft, Prof. Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, was full of gratitude to Philemon Yang for instructing reforms in business registration in a bid to improve the business environment. Six months ago, government put in place the online business registration platform “MyBusiness.cm” and made it functional in the cities of Yaounde, Douala and Garoua.

“Upon a discreet on-the-spot evaluation and inquiries by agents from the US State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Network in our One-Stop shops for business registration, they realised the system was functioning,” he told the press after the audience.

Cameroon beat 18 other countries to emerge first in the e-registration category, while the Kingdom of Bhutan ranked first in the e-regulation category. In all, 116 countries were evaluated this year. “We believe Cameroon’s ranking will improve in this yearly exercise when we must have installed the system in all 10 regions,” said Prof. Etoundi Ngoa, failing to conceal his determination to strive for a better business climate to attract investments.

Cameroon Tribune

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Rita Akana

27.Jul.2016

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With three months salary arrears pending , CAMAIR-CO pilots are set to go on strike , unions leaders  told AFP on Thursday.
The pilots union made the announcement in a  in a strike notice filed to the Directorate General of CAMAIR-CO  on July 15 , and the Ministry of Finance on 18 July 2016 in which the pilots threatened of downing tools by  Monday the 25, July 2016 should their demands not be reached.

The pilot' union, (SPINAC) complains that till date, the boss of the company has given "no response to the pathetic appeal made by pilots of unpaid salaries and other bonuses.

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Rita Akana

22.Jul.2016

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