In Q1-2020, the volume of granulated sugar produced in Cameroon was 57,950 tonnes, according to information provided by operators in the industry. Year-over-year, this represents an increase of 19.8% compared to the 48,370 tonnes produced during the same period in 2019.
This evolution, we learn, can be explained by the combined effects of the decline of smuggled sugar on the market and the results of the CFAF93 billion investment program initiated by the main operator Société sucrière du Cameroun (Sosucam), a subsidiary of Somdiaa.
This investment programme aims to promote irrigation as well as mechanized sugar cane planting and harvesting. It also aims to increase processing plants’ production and output, boost plantations’ yields by introducing new sugar cane varieties, and extend the plantations from 26,000 hectares to 32,000 hectares.
With the investment programme, Sosucam wants to increase sugar production to 150,000 tonnes per year in the short term and 170,000 tonnes per year in the long term. The coronavirus pandemic, which has had a considerable impact on certain economic activities, does not, therefore, seem to have affected this sector during the first quarter of 2020.
