Cameroon stops export of precious timber

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Authors

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Date

2000

Language

Type

News Item

Accessibility

Open Access

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Citation

CTA. 2000. Cameroon stops export of precious timber. Spore 86. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46741

External link to download this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99588

Abstract/Description

Notes

Cameroon has halted export of mahogany (Khaya ivorensis or anthotheca) and sapelli (Entandrophragma cylindricum) which until now represented almost 70% of the country s timber exports. Twenty other species are also on the prohibited list. Another 69 species will continue to be exported, but they will be subject to export duties of FCFA 3,000 /m3 (E 4.60/m3). The government s decree marks the end of a long process started a decade ago, aimed at increasing timber processing within the country, rising from 25 % in 1968, to 60 % in 1981, and 70 % in 1994). The decree allows for strict control of timber exports, which are the nation s second export and, at a level of 2.7 million m3, accounted for 7% of GNP in 1998. It aims at accelerating the rate of local processing, with an eye to job creation and exporting value-added products. High quality conditions have been set for local factories, which should have levels of productivity and output comparable to those of European or Asian plants, but the overall capacity should not exceed the biological capacity of the forest. 'There is a certain risk here that needs assessment, and a need for an appropriate industrial policy', according to Jean-Claude Carret, of the Centre for Industrial Economy at the French School of Mines. Already investments worth FCFA 40 billion (E 61 million) have been made. And local processing capacity has risen by more than one million m3 !