• Cameroon expects cotton production to rise to 350,100 tons in 2025

• This would mark the highest output since 2022

• China remains the top buyer of Cameroonian cotton

Cameroon is on track to produce around 350,100 tons of cotton in 2025, according to estimates from the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). If confirmed, this would be the highest level recorded by the state-run cotton company, Sodecoton, since at least 2022.

Sodecoton, which supports over 220,000 farmers in the northern regions of the country, reported a drop in production in 2023, down to 314,455 tons from 330,000 tons in 2022. That decline matched a reduction in planted land, which shrank from nearly 232,000 hectares in 2022 to just over 223,000 hectares in 2023.

In 2024, BEAC expects output to rebound to 340,000 tons. If the 2025 forecast holds, this would mean a year-over-year increase of just over 10,000 tons.

This upward trend brings Sodecoton closer to its long-term goal of producing 400,000 tons per year on average. Hitting that target would be a major win for the country, as cotton remains one of its leading sources of export earnings.

In 2023, Cameroon exported 127,506 tons of raw cotton, a 14.7% drop compared to the previous year. These shipments brought in CFA147.9 billion, down 4.8%, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Despite the decline, cotton still ranked among the country’s top five exports, accounting for 4.9% of export revenue.

It still trails far behind oil (37.7%), liquefied natural gas (14.1%), cocoa beans (12%), and sawn wood (6.7%).

Most of Cameroon’s cotton goes to Asia. Sodecoton says China alone has taken about 38% of exports on average in recent years, ahead of buyers in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Indonesia.