Food price inflation in Cameroon

Importers blame resistance to price cuts on customs procedures and sabotage by some local companies

By Ntaryike Divine, Jr. in Douala

The Cameroon Chamber of Commerce, Indus-tries, Mines and Craft has warned that current waves of food price hikes across local markets will persist if the government fails to urgently enact motivating agricultural policies.

The Chamber, an interface between the government and business people, met in Douala recently to evaluate relief measures to cushion food price inflation in the country. Attendees, including importers, bankers and traders also sought to identify reasons for resistance to new prices homologated following consultations between the government and business people last March.

Christophe Eken, president of the Chamber, in a presentation, explained that galloping food prices was a global phenomenon. He said the situation was not heading for any perceivable change in the near future. According to him, the government needs to quickly elaborate new agricultural policies taking into consideration subsidies, slashed tariffs on imported farm input and equipment, and the development of farm-to-market roads, inter alia.

Participants at the meeting were unanimous that the price cuts instructions, contained in a presidential ordinance of 7 March, were still not felt at the level of local markets. They pinned blame on some customs-related procedures which implied that import duty exonerations on some products were not effective, obliging importers to maintain old rates. Others said bank loan rates remained high [22 percent], rendering the search for profit to reimburse loaned money primordial.

André Sohaing, an importer, said the fault was not theirs. He said world supplies in food and other products were on a continuous downturn. Another importer taking part in the meeting blamed what he called sabotage regarding the importation of products like cement. Without directly saying it, he gave the impression that the lone cement producer, CIMENCAM,
was staging a hold-up and frustrating strides by competitors at bringing cement into the country. The worries of the economic operators were compiled in a document which Francoise Foning, president of the industries section of the Chamber said she would personally hand to President Paul Biya