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Cameroon: Towards Local Processing of Rubber
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Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
8 May 2008
Posted to the web 8 May 2008
Lukong Pius Nyuylime
Almost all the rubber produced in Cameroon ends up in foreign countries for processing. When the final product comes back home, they are sold at cut throat prices. This state of affairs is entertained by the absence of local industries capable of processing the product at home.
Meeting in Yaounde yesterday, experts in the rubber sector discussed ways and means of reversing the situation. The Secretary of State at the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Fuh Calistus Gentry, who presided at the ceremony, urged them to come out with a palpable programme that will enhance local processing.
"Our growth rate today is about 4% and we are working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals wherein we should hit 8% or more by 2015", Yankwa Martin, the Director of Industries said, stating that it is on the basis of this that the industrial sector has to contribute a significant part. "Within the framework of the clarion call of the Head of State this has to pass through major industrial and agricultural projects", he said. The Head of State, it would be recalled in his end of year address to the nation, called for the processing of a greater part of raw material locally in order to create employment and improve the conditions of life of Cameroonians.
The Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, has therefore identified rubber as one of the major raw materials that can be significantly processed at home. Today Cameroon has a problem of exporting about 80 per cent of its raw material. The country produces about 60,000 tons of rubber annually but imports almost all the finished products without processing some at home. "We import vehicle tires, shoes, and many other things produced with rubber", Yankwa said.
"Five years ago, we had a small rubber processing industry that produced less than 5 per cent of rubber. Since this industry closed down, no rubber is formally processed locally in Cameroon. All that we produce is exported.", he said. The main aim of the programme piloted by the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development is to process at least 50 per cent of rubber locally within the next three years.
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