That dollar amount results from a 64.3% increase from $3.8 billion in 2018.
Year over year, the value of Cameroonian exports accelerated by 44.7% compared to $4.3 billion during 2021.
Based on its average exchange rate for 2022, Cameroon’s legal currency is the Central African (CFA) franc which diluted by -12.3% against the US dollar since 2018 and depreciated by -12.5% from 2021 to 2022. Cameroon’s weaker local currency makes Cameroonian exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Cameroon’s 5 main exports are crude oil, petroleum gases, cocoa beans, sawn wood, and bananas including plantains. Combined, that quintet of major Cameroonian export products represents 81.9% of the Central African country’s export sales. Such a high percentage reveals a concentrated portfolio of export goods.
Cameroon’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data is from 2021. Those figures show that 82.4% of products exported from Cameroon was bought by importers in: mainland China (25.8% of the Cameroonian total), Netherlands (12.4%), India (9.6%), Italy (7.1%), Spain (6.1%), Bangladesh (4%), Chad (3.8%), Belgium (3.6%), France (3%), United States of America (2.6%), Vietnam (2.2%) and South Korea (2.1%).
From a continental perspective, 50.9% of Cameroon’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 34.6% was sold to importers in Europe. Cameroon shipped another 10% worth of goods to fellow African nations.
Smaller percentages went to North America (4.4%), Latin America (0.14%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania’s Australia and Marshall Islands only (0.01%).
Given Cameroon’s population of 27.9 million people, its total $6.25 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $225 for every resident in the central-west African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $190 per capita one year earlier in 2021.
Cameroon’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Cameroonian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Cameroon.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$3.9 billion (62.5% of total exports)
- Cocoa: $735 million (11.8%)
- Wood: $701.9 million (11.2%)
- Fruits, nuts: $279.1 million (4.5%)
- Aluminum: $97.8 million (1.6%)
- Machinery including computers: $95.5 million (1.5%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $88.6 million (1.4%)
- Cotton: $46.5 million (0.7%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $31.1 million (0.5%)
- Copper: $19.7 million (0.3%)
Cameroon’s top 10 exports accounted for 96% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Copper was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 454.3% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was the fruits and nuts product category via a 425.6% advance.
Cameroon’s shipments of machinery including computers posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 228.5%.
The lone decliner among Cameroon’s top 10 export categories was cotton, pulled down by an -82% year-over-year drop.
The above-listed product categories are presented at the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed 4-digit HTS codes, Cameroon’s top 10 most valuable exports are crude oil (35.5% of the country’s total revenues), petroleum gases (26.2%), cocoa beans (8%), sawn wood (7.8%), bananas including plantains (4.4%), rough wood (2.2%), cocoa butter, fat and oil (1.9%), cocoa paste (1.8%), unwrought aluminum (1.5%), and natural rubber (1.3%).
Products Generating Cameroon’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Cameroonian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$3.3 billion (Up by 235.5% since sand)
- Cocoa: $731.3 million (Up by 4.1%)
- Wood: $696.2 million (Up by 33.6%)
- Fruits, nuts: $269.7 million (Up by 494.9%)
- Aluminum: $25.6 million (Down by -36.3%)
- Copper: $15.4 million (Up by 22272.5%)
- Cotton: $14.3 million (Down by -94.4%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $13.9 million (Down by -36.2%)
- Lead: $8.3 million (Up by 99.8%)
- Meat: $5 million (Reversing a -$1.3 million deficit)
Cameroon has highly positive net exports in the international trade of crude oil and petroleum gases. In turn, these cashflows indicate Cameroon’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil category.
Products Causing Cameroon’s Worst Trade Deficits
Overall Cameroon incurred an estimated -$1.2 billion product trade deficit for 2022, shrinking by -56.3% from -$2.7 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2021.
Below are exports from Cameroon that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Cameroon’s goods trail Cameroonian importer spending on foreign products.
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -US$568.4 million (Up by 89.2% since 2020)
- Machinery including computers: -$538.4 million (Up by 4.5%)
- Vehicles: -$463.9 million (Up by 6.5%)
- Cereals: -$427.5 million (Down by -38.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$357.6 million (Up by 41.8%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$297.5 million (Up by 60.5%)
- Iron, steel: -$241.2 million (Down by -32.8%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$204.6 million (Down by -39.6%)
- Other chemical goods: -$197.7 million (Up by 38%)
- Footwear: -$186.9 million (Up by 877.6%)
Cameroon has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the related product categories electrical machinery and equipment plus machinery including computers.
Cameroonian Export Companies
Not one Cameroonian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000 largest companies on a worldwide scale.
Wikipedia lists companies from Cameroon that participate in international trade transactions. Selected examples are shown below.
- Brasseries du Cameroun (beer)
- Cargo Airways International (industrial airliner)
- Commercial Bank Cameroon (bank)
- Elysian Airlines (industrial airliner)
- National Financial Credit Bank (bank)
- Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (oil, gas)
- Union Bank of Cameroon (bank)
In macroeconomic terms, Cameroon’s total exported goods represent 5.1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($123.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 5.1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 4.7% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Cameroon’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Cameroon’s unemployment rate averaged 4% for 2022, down from an average 4.1% one year earlier according to Trading Economics.
Cameroon’s capital city is Yaoundé nicknamed the “City of Seven Hills”.
See also South Africa’s Top 10 Exports, Nigeria’s Top 10 Exports, Kenya’s Top 10 Exports and Top African Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on June 9, 2023
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Cameroon. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 9, 2023
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on June 9, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 9, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Wikipedia, Cameroon. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Cameroon. Accessed on June 9, 2023
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Yaoundé, Cameroon. Accessed on June 9, 2023