Trade Ministry Meets With Businessmen

Écrit par Cameroon Tribune

Jeudi, 13 Janvier 2011 22:08

Businessmen and the Minister of Trade started setting out objectives for 2011 during a series of meetings that started on thursday in Yaounde. The conference room of the Ministry of Trade in Yaounde was busy yesterday January 13 2011, as businessmen involved in the supply chain of chicken, rice, flour, salt and fish in Cameroonian markets were meeting with the Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, his aides and representatives of consumer associations, to evaluate the performance of the markets in 2010 and set out objectives for 2011. Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana opened the first meeting with poultry representatives by noting that 2011 is a year with a difference because of its busy electoral agenda and the launch of ambitious development projects by Government. In that context, he said, trade strategy had to be considered as a factor of national economic development. "Every trade activity should have the finality of maintaining prices and sustaining supply to markets," he explained. Placing the two-day series of meeting as a continuation of regular dialogue instituted in 2006, the Minister said the purpose was to come out with a balance sheet for 2010 and lay down objectives for 2011 in different food sectors. Poultry The president of the union of poultry owners in Cameroon, Ahmadou Moussa observed that after a period of scarcity of chicken and eggs midway into 2010, the chicken markets stabilised with steady supply. "We extended promotional sales in caravans and reference markets to other towns around the country, selling sometimes at FCFA 2,300 per chicken but sometimes at FCFA 1,700," he said disclosing the availability of more chicken in stock. He announced the creation of more reference markets in 2011; two of these will remain open in Yaounde and Douala throughout the year. He assured that chicken will be sold for between FCFA 2,300 and FCFA 2,500 for chicken weighing 2 kilogrammes or more before requesting the opening of chicken slaughter houses around the country. Rice In the second meeting, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana observed that the rice sector did not suffer from price speculation or shortage in 2010 due to the seriousness of promotional sales but cautioned rice importers and businessmen to propose strategies for distributing locally produced rice instead of relying on heavy importations. In this regard, Oumarou Maloun, the spokesperson for the rice sector, explained that local production was still very weak and the quality still lower than the imported "25% Rice" from Pakistan enjoyed by most Cameroonian households. With only 18,000 tonnes of imported rice left in the markets, the businessmen assured that shipments worth 40,000 tonnes would be available by February 2011 at a price per kilogramme that had yet to be agreed upon by press time. Wheat Flour Representing flour producers, Celestin Tawamba gave assurances that markets will be supplied with wheat flour at the prices of FCFA 17,000 and FCFA 18,000 per bag of 50 kilogrammes; depending on the type and locations but cautioned that international markets were tense at the moment with Canada, Russia and Australia suffering from extreme weather conditions; a factor that might influence prices upwards. Salt The salt producers union explained that they had unilaterally adjusted the prices per bag of salt from the fixed FCFA 2,400 to FCFA 2,600 because of production constraints, but attributed the higher prices skyrocketing beyond FCFA 3,000 per bag to market speculation. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Trade, Haman Oumar, sitting in for his Minister, said salt had to return to its fixed price of FCFA 2,400 because salt producers had not followed the right procedure to alter prices. The meetings continued with businessmen involved in the fish sector. Today, January 14 2011, the Minister of Trade will continue meeting with businessmen operating in the sugar, palm oil and construction materials sectors, respectively.