(Business in Cameroon) – The November 20 trading session on the Central African Stock Exchange (BVMAC) recorded only one transaction. According to the Official Listing Bulletin (BOC), this involved the purchase of nine shares from the Société Africaine Forestière et Agricole du Cameroun (Safacam), a subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based Socfin, which specializes in palm oil and rubber production.
The BOC noted that the shares were bought at CFA26,500 each, marking a 5.4% drop in Safacam’s stock price compared to the previous day’s closing price. A sharp increase in selling offers for the stock followed the decline.
The BOC reported that on November 20, 1,001 Safacam shares were available for sale, compared to just 79 shares on November 12. This surge in selling activity indicates that many shareholders are eager to sell their shares, despite Safacam’s strong operational and financial performance in recent years, and its promising outlook.
Safacam, which paid out a total dividend of CFA2.7 billion for 2022—nearly half a billion of which went to shareholders owning shares listed on BVMAC—operates in a sector with significant demand. Cameroon is facing a palm oil production deficit, officially estimated at 160,000 tons since 2022, which guarantees a market for Safacam’s entire production, as well as that of other producers, from local refiners.
Since 2022, the government has discreetly approved a CFA100 increase in the price at which palm oil producers sell their products to refiners. As a result, Safacam and other producers now sell palm oil to processors at the regulated price of CFA550 per liter, up from the previous price of CFA450. However, sources indicate that this price increase is intended to offset a slight rise (CFA40) in the cost of palm nuts, which has gone up from CFA60 to CFA100 per kilogram.
