• Société sucrière du Cameroun (Sosucam), a subsidiary of France's Castel group, invested 2.5 billion FCFA (about $4.5 million) in a new sugar cube production unit at its Nkoteng site, financed entirely from own funds.

• The new facility, with a capacity of 100 tonnes per day, replaces the older Mbandjock installation and is now operational.

• Cameroon exported 8,047 tonnes of sugar in 2025, up from 512 tonnes in 2024, even though Sosucam's annual production of 120,000 to 160,000 tonnes covers only part of a national demand estimated at nearly 300,000 tonnes.

Société sucrière du Cameroun (Sosucam) invested 2.5 billion FCFA (about $4.5 million) in a new sugar cube production unit at its Nkoteng site, a town in the Centre region, according to information gathered by Investir au Cameroun. The company financed the project, launched more than two years ago, entirely from its own funds. A senior executive at the Castel group subsidiary confirmed that the new facility is now operational.

With a production capacity of 100 tonnes per day, the unit should help the company strengthen its offer on the processed sugar segment. It replaces the older Mbandjock installation, which had become less suited to current technical requirements.

Through this investment, Sosucam aims to improve the quality of its output and modernize its industrial processes. Internal sources say the company also intends to consolidate its position on the national market, against a backdrop of shifting demand and rising competition on certain segments.

The new capacity could therefore allow the producer to better meet demand from households and industrial buyers, while reinforcing its presence on the local market.

A sector in recomposition

The Nkoteng investment fits into a broader recomposition of Cameroon's sugar market. Several operators are looking to expand their production capacity in a market that runs a structural deficit.

Wega Food offers one example. Based in the Douala industrial zone, the manufacturer plans to raise its production capacity to 700 tonnes per day through an extension that is nearing completion.

This momentum reflects the desire of operators present on the market to reinforce the national supply. At the launch of the 2025/2026 campaign, Sosucam already described an unfavorable international environment, marked, in its view, by support policies put in place by major producers such as Brazil and India.

According to the company, those subsidies help keep world prices at artificially low levels, fueling calls in Cameroon from importers for greater market opening. In that context, Sosucam pushed for regulatory continuity to avoid what it presents as a deregulation that would harm local production.

A local market under strain

Tensions on the domestic market nonetheless remain strong. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Cameroon exported 8,047 tonnes of sugar in 2025, up from 512 tonnes in 2024.

That increase comes against a backdrop of structural deficit on the local market. With annual output generally ranging from 120,000 to 160,000 tonnes, Sosucam covers only part of a national demand estimated at nearly 300,000 tonnes. The imbalance regularly leads public authorities to authorize imports to secure market supply.

Under these conditions, the rise in exports raises questions less about the sector's international competitiveness than about the nature of the trade flows. It could reflect occasional arbitrage toward more profitable neighboring markets, rather than a lasting breakthrough for Cameroonian sugar internationally.

A sector player interviewed by Investir au Cameroun estimates that these volumes could correspond, at least in part, to re-exports toward neighboring countries. The hypothesis has yet to be officially confirmed at this stage.

The tension is not new. In 2022, Cameroonian authorities suspended exports of several essential products, including sugar, to the Central African Republic. The aim at the time was to limit outflows toward more profitable foreign markets, even as supply tensions were being observed on the local market.

Amina Malloum (Business in Cameroun)