(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroon’s informal trade with neighboring countries generated CFA214.98 billion in export revenues in 2024, up 3.8% from 2023, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The performance, however, remained below the 2022 peak of CFA282.9 billion.
Nigeria ranked as Cameroon’s second-largest informal trade partner, accounting for 30.8% of the flows. This is mainly due to the illegal export of cocoa beans, which alone represented 63.9% of informal revenues, or about CFA41.4 billion. That figure marks a sharp increase of 145.6% in one year.
By contrast, some products that once drove informal trade recorded steep declines: palm oil fell by 54.1% (CFA6.3 billion), milled rice by 68% (CFA2.5 billion), and live cattle by 50% (CFA1.65 billion). These shifts underline the dominant role of cocoa in cross-border flows and Cameroon’s growing reliance on the Nigerian market.
While the INS highlights the scale of informal trade, figures from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC) point to a parallel trend: Nigeria has also become the leading African importer of Cameroon’s formal cocoa. In the 2024–2025 season, 2,100 tons of beans were exported legally to Nigeria, representing 1.09% of national volumes.
The ONCC described this move toward formal imports as “a notable change from past practices.” It partly reflects tighter restrictions by authorities, following losses estimated at nearly CFA70 billion during the 2022–2023 season due to fraudulent cocoa trafficking. To address the issue, Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana had “temporarily suspended cocoa shipments to Nigeria.”
Nationally, Cameroon’s formal exports totaled CFA3,252 billion in 2024, compared with CFA215 billion for informal trade. Informal flows thus accounted for only 6.6% of official exports and 6.2% of total exports. But the picture shifts when focusing on the six neighboring countries—Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. There, informal trade reached CFA215 billion, equal to 88% of official exchanges valued at CFA245 billion. Within this cross-border space, the informal economy almost rivals the formal one.
The main trade corridors remain concentrated in the North and Southwest, particularly via the Guéli Bridge and the Ekok post, confirming their strategic role in cross-border commerce. For the past three years, the structure of informal exports has remained stable: Nigeria and Chad together account for more than 80% of total volumes. This stability reflects both the socio-cultural ties and the economic vitality of communities living along these borders.
