(Business in Cameroon) – Last year, Cameroon exported 3,011 tons of aluminum sheets, collecting CFA6.6 billion, according to official figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
This volume of aluminum sheets shipped to the international market surged 90.8% year-on-year from 1,578 to over 3,000 tons. Meanwhile, the revenues from these sales rose by 80.2% annually, from CFA3.6 billion in 2022.
This achievement is expected to strengthen the financial position of the Cameroon Aluminum Company (Alucam). Since 2021, the aluminum producer has merged with its subsidiary Socatral, the primary producer and exporter of aluminum sheets in Cameroon. The move was decided to rejuvenate the aluminum industry giant in Central Africa. Indeed, the company has faced challenges since 2014, when the Canadian firm Rio Tinto (which held 46.7% of shares) withdrew its shareholding. Despite the Cameroonian government’s call for investors in 2015, no tangible results have emerged, leaving Alucam in a state of continual financial struggle.
For example, in the financial year ending on December 31, 2022, the company recorded a loss of CFA7.9 billion, according to the report on the situation of public and parastatal enterprises published by the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public and Parastatal Sector Enterprises (CTR). In 2020, this company had already incurred a loss of over CFA14 billion (after a profit of CFA448 million in 2021), according to the same source.
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