Cameroon Cuts Tariffs on EU Vehicles, Fuel and Cement by 70%

Cameroon has entered a new phase of tariff reductions under its Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union and the United Kingdom, with customs duties on vehicles, fuel, cement and other imports now reduced by 70%.

The 11th phase of the tariff phaseout took effect on August 4, 2026. In a statement issued the same day, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé said the latest step applies to imports classified in the third product group from EU countries and the United Kingdom.

The category covers products considered to generate high customs revenue, including commercial vehicles, fuel, cement, paint and industrial packaging. Tariffs on these goods fall by 10% each year under the phaseout schedule, with full exemption expected in 2030.

Products in the second group, whose tariff phaseout began on August 4, 2017, received annual reductions of 15%. They have been fully exempt from customs duties since August 4, 2023.

Second-Group Products Now Fully Exempt

The second group includes plaster, lime, marble, clinker and inputs for the food industry, including odoriferous mixtures used in food and beverage production and yeast. It also covers wire rods, generators and electric rotary converters, machinery and equipment, trucks and other vehicles for transporting goods, trailers and semi-trailers, wheelbarrows, and certain vehicle parts and accessories such as bumpers, seat belts, brakes, wheels and clutches.

Products in the first group have been fully exempt from customs duties since August 4, 2019. Tariff reductions for this category began on August 4, 2016, at a rate of 25% a year.

The group includes pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, pesticides, oilseed cakes, paper and cardboard, bitumen and other petroleum residues, soda, gypsum, chalk, lime, gas, inorganic and organic chemicals, computers, special-purpose motor vehicles, tractors, motorcycle and bicycle parts and accessories, wheelchair parts and laboratory equipment.

More Than CFA10 Billion in Average Annual Revenue Losses

When the EPAs took effect, concerns centered on the potentially large customs revenue losses for Cameroon. Those losses, however, have so far remained below the levels initially feared, even after the arrangements were extended to the United Kingdom following Brexit.

Ten years after implementation began, cumulative revenue losses are officially estimated at about CFA103 billion, equivalent to slightly more than CFA10 billion a year on average.

At the same time, Cameroon’s customs revenue has continued to increase despite the gradual tariff reductions. Annual customs receipts exceeded CFA1 trillion for the first time in 2023.

Experts attribute the increase in revenue despite the EPAs partly to Cameroon’s diversification of its trading partners in recent years. Although the EU remains Cameroon’s largest economic partner, the country has strengthened commercial ties with China. On a bilateral basis, China has been both Cameroon’s largest customer and supplier since 2013.

China Gains Ground in Cameroon’s Import Market

China gained 28.7 percentage points of Cameroon’s machinery and equipment import market between 2016 and 2024, according to the 2024 report on the competitiveness of the Cameroonian economy published by the Competitiveness Committee.

The think tank, which operates under the Economy Ministry, said China’s share rose from 23.8% in 2016 to 52.5% in 2024.

Those gains came partly at the EU’s expense. The bloc accounted for 50.1% of Cameroon’s machinery and equipment imports in 2016. Its share fell to 29.3% in 2023 before recovering to 32.3% in 2024. Overall, the EU lost nearly 20 percentage points of market share over eight years.

Implementation of the EPAs has also revealed that the tax benefits are concentrated among a relatively small number of companies and sectors.

According to the Economy Ministry’s Competitiveness Committee, fewer than 5% of the 1,021 companies that had benefited from the EPAs as of December 31, 2023, captured 75% of the agreements’ tax benefits. Large companies received 80% of the gains, compared with 20% for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The committee also said an analysis of the 50 largest companies using preferential EPA tariffs showed a predominance of industrial and commercial businesses.

Brice R. Mbodiam