According to data from the Cameroon Banana Association (Assobacam), the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) exported 23,416 tons of bananas during the first seven months of 2025. This volume is less than half the level of 2015, when the state-owned agribusiness shipped 57,630 tons before separatist unrest disrupted operations in the North West and South West regions.
In 2016, the year conflict began between separatists and the national army in the Anglophone regions, CDC recorded exports of 61,010 tons over the same period. This was nearly three times the 2025 level. The company, Cameroon's second-largest employer after the public administration, continues to struggle to return to earlier production levels despite ongoing financial support from the state.
The government recently authorized new financing to support the company. A presidential decree enabled the Minister of Economy, Alamine Ousmane Mey, to secure a loan of CFA4.6 billion (about US$7.5 million) from Standard Chartered Bank in London. Officially, the funds are earmarked for the supply and installation of processing plants for palm oil, margarine, and rubber, which are considered strategic for diversifying and modernizing CDC's operations.
The decree followed an agreement reached on September 15, 2025, with five local banks and financial institutions to settle CFA15.7 billion (about US$25.6 million) in wage arrears owed to nearly 20,000 CDC employees. This measure is part of a broader effort to clear CFA35.7 billion (about US$58.2 million) in back wages accumulated between 2018 and 2022.
An initial CFA20 billion (about US$32.6 million) package was already paid to CDC workers in 2024 through a first debt buyback and settlement deal between the state and two local banks. That agreement also included the takeover of CFA31.8 billion (about US$51.9 million) in tax debt, which was converted into company equity.
These injections of state funds and financing arrangements have helped clean up the company's accounts, stabilize labor relations, and open the way for investment. Operational results remain weak, however. CDC reported cumulative losses of CFA38.7 billion (about US$63.2 million) between 2019 and 2021. In 2018, production was suspended at 12 of 29 sites, 6,124 jobs were lost, and the company disappeared from Cameroon's banana exporters' registry between September 2018 and May 2020 due to the prolonged production halt.
Source: Business in Cameroon