Sundance Resources expresses "shock" at new MoU, page-30

Translated:

Speaking on June 24, 2021 in front of the students of the Institute of International Relations of Cameroon (Iric), as part of a concept called “Diplomatic Forum”, the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Christophe Guilhou, revealed how much French companies are gradually losing their foothold in Cameroon.


"The market share of French companies in Cameroon has gone from 40% in the 1990s to 10% today," said the diplomat. Clearly, over the past 30 years, French companies have lost a total of 30% of market share in Cameroon.

From this point of view, the latest snub suffered by a French company in this country is the withdrawal of the management of the container terminal at the port of Douala, in the Cameroonian economic capital, from the Franco-Danish consortium Bolloré-Maersk. Although the case plays the extension before national and international courts, the loss of the concession of the container terminal of the port of Douala, one of the largest of the Bolloré group in the Gulf of Guinea, weakened the French logistician in Cameroon, we learn from authorized sources.

In the opinion of many observers of the national economic landernau, this decline of French companies on the Cameroonian market is explained by the Chinese offensive. “Between 2000 and 2014, Cameroon captured 2750 billion FCFA in foreign direct investment (FDI), including 1850 billion FCFA from China. This represents approximately 67% of FDI entering Cameroon (…) The other FDI came from countries such as France, the United States, Nigeria ”, we can read in a document from the Presidency of the Republic, which quotes data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Indeed, since the 2000s, the Middle Kingdom has won virtually all infrastructure contracts in Cameroon. This predominance increased tenfold in 2012, thanks to the launch of first-generation structuring projects (bridges, roads, dams, etc.). Towed by Eximbank China, the Chinese public bank, whose financing is linked (each project loan is accompanied by the name of the company to perform the contract), Chinese companies are still in pole position. These are mainly CCCC, CWE, CHEC, Sinohydro… in infrastructure; Huawei and ZTE in telecoms ...

The grip of Chinese companies on the Cameroonian economy for some time has been such that, to win the call for tenders for the concession of the container terminal of the deep-water port of Douala, the French Bolloré and CMA CGM had to form a consortium with the Chinese CHEC, which also won the contract for the construction of this port platform. Even on the infrastructure sites to be used for the organization of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) football, which Cameroon will host in January-February 2022, French companies have been hardly visible. For the benefit of Italians, Turks and Canadians.

At the commercial level, the situation is hardly better for the French partners. Destination of 23.9% of exports, the Middle Kingdom is Cameroon's main customer in 2018, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The most populous country in the world is followed by Italy (14.7%), the Netherlands (6.4%) and France is relegated to 4th place with 6.3%. In terms of imports, China is still Cameroon's main supplier in 2018 with 18.5% of deliveries against 8.3% for France, 5.6% for Nigeria and 4.8% for the Netherlands , reveal the data of the INS.


Source: Brice R. Mbodiam, Business in Cameroon