CEMAC Clears 120 Cameroonian Products for Preferential Trade

Fourteen Cameroonian companies have secured approval to market 120 additional products under the Central African Economic and Monetary Community’s preferential trade regime, expanding their access to the subregional market.

Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana handed over the approvals in Yaoundé on Sept. 10, 2026. The companies were admitted to the scheme following the May session of the CEMAC Regional Committee of Origin in Douala.

The latest approvals bring the number of Cameroonian companies benefiting from the regime to 91, covering 1,328 products. The beneficiaries received their documents during the ninth ceremony organized for companies admitted to the scheme.

According to the Ministry of Trade, the CEMAC preferential regime allows qualifying products originating within the community to benefit from preferential trade conditions. The six-member bloc comprises Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and the Central African Republic.

Figures presented by the ministry during the ceremony show that Cameroon accounts for the largest number of approved companies and products in the subregion. Gabon has 14 companies with approvals covering 249 products, while Congo has 11 companies and 103 products. Equatorial Guinea has 11 approved companies covering 109 products. Chad has four companies and 31 products, while the Central African Republic has two companies with 14 approved products.

Link to continental market

Mbarga Atangana said the approvals would give the companies access to the CEMAC market and help position them for trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). “Beyond the access to the subregional market to which these approvals entitle them, this places the companies in a privileged position in relation to the African Continental Free Trade Area,” the minister said.

He said companies already approved under the CEMAC preferential regime would receive priority consideration for Approved Exporter status under the AfCFTA. “It is companies that already hold approval under the Community Preferential Regime that will have priority access to the status of ‘Approved Exporter’ within the framework of the AfCFTA,” Mbarga Atangana said.

Under the AfCFTA rules of origin, Approved Exporter status allows authorized companies to issue their own origin declarations for qualifying exports rather than obtaining a separate certificate of origin for each shipment.

The ceremony was attended by the resident representative of the CEMAC Commission in Cameroon, a representative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Subregional Office and the president of the Chamber of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Forestry. Mbarga Atangana said the government would continue supporting the beneficiary companies’ business initiatives.

Mercy Fosoh