Industry
In 2019, growth in the secondary sector was 4.9% after 3.1% in 2018. This dynamism is mainly explained by the good performance of ‘Extractive industries’ whose added value grew by 8.4% in 2019 against -2.6% in 2018. The contribution of the secondary sector to real GDP growth rose from 0.8% to 1.3%. its contribution to the GDP is 26%.
Manufacturing Industries
In 2019, activities in manufacturing industries grew by 4.1% after 3.6% in 2018. This acceleration is mainly fostered by the dynamism observed in the ‘textile and clothing industries (5.5% after 5.0%) and the ‘chemical industries and manufacture of chemicals’ (10.6% after 0.9%). This improvement has been lessened by poor performances recorded in the ‘basic metallurgical industries’ (-2.4% after 3.4%) and the ‘beverage industries’ (-4.9% after 7.9%). The contribution of manufacturing industries to GDP growth drops from 0.5 points to 0.6 points. After the fire at SONARA, the activities of the ‘petroleum refining, coking and petroleum industry’ line were shut down.
Agrifoods Industries
In 2019, the growth rate of ‘agrifood industries’ is 2.5%. This growth is mainly attributable to the ‘fats and animal feed industries’ lines (+ 6.3%), ‘milk, fruit and vegetable industry’ (+ 4.3%) and ‘meat and fish industries’ (+ 7.4%). This performance was hampered by the drop in production in the lines of ‘grain mill products and manufacturing of starch products’ (-0.2%) and ‘beverage industries’ (-4.9%)
Growth in the ‘fatty substances industries and animal feed’ is mainly explained by the increase in the capacities of certain production units, including SODECOTON, which increased the production capacity of the oil mill in Maroua from 70.000 to 110.000 tons in 2019. Similarly, SCR MAYA increased its production capacity from 500 to 1.000 tons per day. The sector also received a good supply of raw materials, in particular palm oil and cotton seed.
Mines
In 2019, gold production registered with artisanal mining companies is 314.5kg, 29.8% down in 2018. This decline observed since 2018 can be explained by the decrease in the number of mining operators from 180 to around 30 who saw their operating authorizations suspended, pending the application texts of the new mining code. The share of the production retroceded to the state by CAPAM is 45.6kg. in addition, CAPAM purchased on behalf of the state, 13.9kg of gold from smallholders. Actions implemented to improve governance in the mining sector continued as 91 mining titles (research permits, exploitation permits, quary exploitation authorizations etc) were granted.
In the first half of 2020 and year-on-year, gold production fell by 46.3% and reached 120.5kg, of which 27.4kg was transfered to the State. The activities for the Capacity Building Project in the mining sector (PRECASEM), with a view to the gradual establishment of 1000 modernized registered land. The geological and deochemical survey campaign over the southern bloc (Edea, Yaounde, Akonolinga, Abong-Mbang, Medoum and Yakadouma) is completed. In total, out of 11.320 sampling points programed for the campaign, 8.425 points have already been collected, and overall progress rate of 74%.
Hydrocarbons
- Crude Oil
In 2019, crude oil production stands at 26 million barrels, an increase by 3.6% compared to 2018. This change is explained by the increase in production investments compared to the previous year.
At the end of March 2020, crude oil production is of 6.8 million barrels, an increase of 11.5% year-on-year. At the end of the year, it would be almost stable compared to 2019.
2. Natural Gas
In 2019, natural gas production increased by 36.9% which is 70.8 billion cubic feet, in connection with the dynamics of the operation of the deposits. At the end of June 2020, natural gas production is estimated at 35.1 billion cubic feet.