(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon is set to expand its list of banned timber species for log exports in 2025. President Paul Biya directed the government to take this step in a budget circular signed on October 23, outlining plans for the 2025 budget. The directive is part of a larger strategy to prepare for the upcoming Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) ban on raw log exports, set for 2028.
In a February 2024 meeting in Bangui, CEMAC forest ministers from Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo committed to prohibiting all raw log exports starting January 1, 2028. This decision includes a gradual phase-out beginning in January 2025, allowing countries time to adjust.
Cameroon has already begun this transition. On April 4, 2024, Minister of Forests and Wildlife Jules Doret Ndongo issued a list banning the export of 76 timber species in raw log form. This list will be extended in 2025, supporting the government’s strategy to promote local wood processing and strengthen the domestic industry. For years, Cameroon has discouraged raw log exports by steadily raising export taxes on logs and unprocessed lumber.
Between 2017 and 2023, Cameroon raised its log export duty from 17.5% to 60%, a total tax increase of 343% over six years. The 2024 finance law further hiked this export duty to 75% of the FOB value. The export duty on sawn wood also saw a 165% increase from 2016 to 2023, according to forest industry data.
This tax policy is already showing results. Log exports now represent only a small fraction of Cameroon’s total wood shipments. In 2022, for instance, Cameroon exported just 746 cubic meters of logs out of a total 1.7 million cubic meters of wood sold internationally. This volume was 22% lower than the 958.3 cubic meters exported in 2021, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
