That calculated dollar amount results from a 131% acceleration from $3.16 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the value of Cameroonian exports spiked by 47.9% compared to $4.93 billion starting from 2023.
Based on its average exchange rate for 2024, Cameroon’s legal currency is the Central African (CFA) franc which diluted by -4.9% against the US dollar since 2020 but stabilized from 2023 to 2024. Cameroon’s weaker local currency compared to 2020 makes Cameroonian exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
Cameroon’s 5 main exports are crude oil, cocoa beans, petroleum gases, sawn wood, then cocoa butter, fat and oil. Combined, that quintet of major Cameroonian export products represents 77.5% 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 shows that 82.8% of products exported from Cameroon was bought by importers in: Netherlands (23.2% of the Cameroonian total), France (12.4%), India (9.6%), mainland China (7.8%), Chad (5%), Italy (4.4%), Bangladesh (4.3%), Indonesia (3.9%), Spain (3.33%), Belgium (3.32%), Türkiye (3%) and Germany (2.7%).
From a continental perspective, 53.7% of Cameroon’s exports by value was delivered to European countries while 31.9% was sold to importers in Asia. Cameroon shipped another 12.8% worth of goods to customers based in fellow African nations.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.2%), Latin America (0.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania’s Marshall Islands, Australia and New Caledonia only (0.003%).
Given Cameroon’s population of 29.32 million people, its total $7.3 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $250 for every resident in the central-west African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $210 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Cameroon’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Cameroonian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Cameroon.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$3.5 billion (48.6% of total exports)
- Cocoa: $2 billion (27.1%)
- Wood: $746.6 million (10.2%)
- Fruits, nuts: $279.1 million (3.8%)
- Gems, precious metals: $249 million (3.4%)
- Aluminum: $85.8 million (1.2%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $81.2 million (1.1%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $43.3 million (0.6%)
- Cotton: $41.8 million (0.6%)
- Copper: $33.8 million (0.5%)
Cameroon’s top 10 exports accounted for 97.1% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Bolstered by higher revenues from exported gold, gems and precious metals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories up by 25,866% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for better export sales was copper via a 1,283% advance.
Cameroon’s shipments of dairy, eggs and honey posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 1,098%.
The leading decliner among Cameroon’s top 10 export categories was cotton, pulled down by a -82.8% 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 (37% of the country’s total revenues), cocoa beans (18.4%), petroleum gases (10.2%), sawn wood (7.3%), cocoa butter, fat and oil (4.5%), cocoa paste (4.1%), bananas including plantains (3.8%), unwrought gold (3.4%), rough wood (1.9%) then processed petroleum oils (1.4%).
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 billion (Up by 351.8% since 2023)
- Cocoa: $2 billion (Up by 130.6%)
- Wood: $741.4 million (Up by 57.2%)
- Fruits, nuts: $265.7 million (Up by 480.9%)
- Gems, precious metals: $245.5 million (Reversing a -$1.7 million deficit)
- Copper: $29.2 million (Reversing a -$1.05 million deficit)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $19.6 million (Down by -39.5%)
- Cotton: $13.2 million (Down by -94.4%)
- Lead: $9.4 million (Up by 142.7%)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $4.1 million (Reversing a -$118,000 deficit)
Historically, Cameroon earns 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 -US$1.18 billion product trade deficit for 2024, reducing by -64.4% from -$3.3 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
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.
- Machinery including computers: -US$842.8 million (Up by 24.9% since 2023)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$785.8 million (Up by 105.6%)
- Cereals: -$782.9 million (Up by 26.5%)
- Vehicles: -$502.9 million (Down by -5.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$384.8 million (Up by 59.2%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$291.1 million (Up by 128.4%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$286.3 million (Up by 86.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$267.5 million (Down by -2.3%)
- Other chemical goods: -$200.3 million (Up by 7.1%)
- Iron, steel: -$198.5 million (Down by -29.2%)
Cameroon has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the related product categories machinery including computers plus electrical machinery and equipment.
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 4.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($162.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 4.6% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 4.6% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing 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 3.5% for 2024, down from an average 3.6% one year earlier according to Trading Economics metrics.
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 October 11, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org, West African Franc to US Dollar (Exchange Rate History). Accessed on October 11, 2025
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Cameroon. Accessed on October 11, 2025
Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 11, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 11, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 11, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 11, 2025
Wikipedia, Cameroon. Accessed on October 11, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Cameroon. Accessed on October 11, 2025