On 5 May 2023, the Minister of Commerce , Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, held a working meeting with actors of the milling industry .

During this meeting , Several announcements were made  . Among them, the reduction of 1,500 CFA francs (6.25%) of the price of a 50kg bag of wheat flour. The current market prices for a 50kg bag are 22,500 CFA francs for entry-level wheat flour, 23,000 CFA francs for mid-range flour and 23,500 CFA francs for high-end flour. The decrease observed here is due to several endogenous factors.

Since January 2023 marks the beginning of repercussions of the decrease in the cost of wheat on the bag ex factory. From ann initial ,price of  24,000 CFA francs, it has dropped to 22,500 CFA francs delivered to Douala (for the entry-level flour used for doughnuts, ),” said Alfred Momo Ebongue, Secretary General of the ”Groupement des meuniers du Cameroun”.

This reduction applies to mid-range flour (used to make bread) and high-end flour (used for pastries). The factory gate prices of the latter are 23,000 and 23,500 CFA francs respectively, compared to 24,500 and 25,000 CFA francs a year ago. It should be noted here that the ex-factory prices are different from those on the market because they include certain additional costs, including transport.

The decrease observed here is due to several factors. “There are charges that have gone up locally, you have fuel, electricity, there have been intra-community taxes distributed at customs lately. And then when we were selling a bag of flour at 24,000 we had some tax suspensions that are no longer in effect today. To say that local charges are no longer the same as they were at the time,” adds the Secretary General of the Cameroon Millers’ Group.
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This downward trend is also observed in world wheat prices. “I also observe the same downward trend in the international market, there is wheat to be milled, the context is honourable. We have to take a trend approach, it’s changing…we have always been flexible with other products, let’s continue to make bread sacred, the trends until the end of the year are an oversupply. What we have not done with other products, we can do with bread,” explains Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana. Thus said “the price of guaranteed wheat in Douala was 420 euros / tonne (275,501 CFA francs) at the height of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Now it is 380 euros/tonne (249,263 CFA francs),” says Alfred Momo Ebongue.