Cameroon banana exports fall 3.4% as CDC shipments slump in June 2026
Cameroon exported 15,554 tonnes of bananas in June 2026, down 3.4% from a year earlier as shipments by the state-owned CDC fell sharply. Gains at PHP and CDBM partly offset the decline and lifted Compagnie Fruitière’s combined share to about 80.2%.
June shipments decline by 551 tonnes
Cameroon exported 15,554 tonnes of bananas in June 2026, a decrease of 551 tonnes, or 3.4%, from the 16,105 tonnes shipped in June 2025. The figures compiled by the Cameroon Banana Association, Assobacam, show that weaker output from the state-owned Cameroon Development Corporation, or CDC, outweighed higher exports by the country’s two other producers.
The comparison also reflects a change in the structure of the industry. Boh Plantations PLC, which exported 900 tonnes in June 2025, has disappeared from the monthly list of exporters. Its assets were recently acquired by France’s Compagnie Fruitière, further concentrating Cameroon’s banana trade around the group’s local subsidiaries.
CDC records its weakest month of the year
CDC exported 3,085 tonnes in June, its lowest monthly volume since the beginning of 2026. Shipments fell by 563 tonnes, or 15.4%, from 3,648 tonnes in the same month of 2025. Business in Cameroon and Investir au Cameroun linked the decline to the continuing operational and financial effects of the socio-political crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
Separatist violence has disrupted CDC plantations since late 2016, particularly in the Southwest Region. Several banana, rubber and oil palm sites remained closed for extended periods, generating losses that continue to constrain production and exports. CDC is Cameroon’s second-largest employer after the state, making its difficulties relevant not only to banana supply but also to employment and agricultural activity in the affected production areas.
Private producers expand their share
Plantations du Haut Penja, or PHP, exported 10,174 tonnes in June, up 544 tonnes, or 5.6%, from 9,630 tonnes a year earlier. PHP is Cameroon’s largest banana producer and a subsidiary of Compagnie Fruitière. The group’s other local subsidiary, Compagnie des Bananes de Mondoni, or CDBM, increased exports by 368 tonnes, or 19.1%, to 2,295 tonnes from 1,927 tonnes.
Together, PHP and CDBM shipped 12,469 tonnes, equivalent to approximately 80.2% of Cameroon’s banana exports during the month. For importers, the figures point to greater dependence on a single corporate group, even though growth at its two subsidiaries cushioned the national decline. Bananas remain one of Cameroon’s leading export products: according to the National Institute of Statistics, overseas sales generated CFA67.7 billion in 2025, an increase of 84.7% from the previous year. June’s contraction therefore highlights the exposure of an important export revenue stream to producer concentration and CDC’s slow operational recovery.
