Cameroon seeks UK financing and technology for timber SMEs

Cameroon is seeking British support for timber-processing small and medium-sized enterprises, including equipment upgrades, technology transfers and financing adapted to local businesses. The SME ministry outlined the initiative on October 20 after talks between Minister Achille Bassilekin III and Neil Scotland, senior forestry adviser at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. No funding commitment or implementation timetable was announced. The talks followed an October 6 agreement between the ministry and Lomié Council to develop the SMEs Wood’s Park in the East Region. That project aims to support processors, artisans and social-economy organizations producing higher-value goods. National statistics show Cameroon exported 762,007 tonnes of sawn timber worth CFA157.6 billion in 2025, while raw-log exports fell to 349,611 tonnes, a five-year low. To encourage local processing, raw-log export duties rose from 17.5% to 75% of free-on-board value between 2017 and 2024, alongside exemptions for imported processing equipment. A CEMAC restriction on raw-log exports is scheduled for January 1, 2028. The British delegation also included deputy high commissioner Samantha Smith and Euan McCarthy, regional climate and environment adviser for Central Africa. The ministry's account places financing alongside technical assistance: the stated agenda covers both the equipment businesses use and their ability to obtain investment. The reported customs exemptions concern imported wood-processing equipment, whereas the rising export levy applies to raw logs. Neither measure amounts to a British financing package. The Lomié partnership is a separate domestic initiative, not evidence that the UK has agreed to fund the park. Nexus analysis: The policy direction is toward processing more wood locally, but these talks leave the essential commercial questions—who will finance upgrades, on what terms and when—unanswered.