Consumer goods group Nasco plans to build a $100 million
sugar refinery in Cameroon with an annual production capacity of 300,000 metric tons, Bloomberg reported. The facility is expected to begin production in 2028. The project could challenge the dominant position of incumbent producer SOSUCAM and introduce a new producer into a market where local supply remains insufficient to meet demand.
Domestic Supply Remains Well Below Demand
For decades, Cameroon’s sugar production has been dominated by Société Sucrière du Cameroun, or SOSUCAM, a subsidiary of the SOMDIAA group. The company operates nearly 25,000 hectares of sugar cane plantations and has an annual production capacity of about 120,000 tons. It aims to raise output to 130,000 tons by 2027.
That level remains far below growing domestic demand. Data compiled on the Trade Map platform show that Cameroon’s sugar imports nearly tripled in five years, rising from 97,000 tons in 2020 to 298,000 tons in 2024. Over the same period, the value of those imports nearly quadrupled, increasing from $50 million to $197 million. The data also show that re-exports to neighboring Central African countries remain below 1,000 tons a year. The increase in imports has therefore been driven mainly by a sharp rise in domestic demand in recent years. More broadly, domestic supply and import figures suggest that demand reached about 400,000 tons in 2024.
Export Ambitions
This heavy dependence on imports contrasts with the Cameroonian government’s stated targets. Under its National Development Strategy, known as SND30, the government is targeting annual sugar production of 500,000 tons. The goal is to meet domestic demand, end imports and position Cameroon as a supplier to Central African markets and Nigeria.
Expanding production capacity is therefore a major priority for reducing the country’s dependence on imports and improving its trade balance. The addition of a new refinery alongside SOSUCAM’s industrial capacity could accelerate the move toward self-sufficiency. Beyond meeting domestic demand, the development of new production facilities could also turn Cameroon into a sugar exporter.
Outside Cameroon, member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States imported nearly 500,000 tons of sugar in 2024, at an estimated cost of $303 million, according to the Trade Map platform. That regional demand could create export opportunities for Cameroonian producers.
