The National Institute of Statistics (INS) reveals that between January and June 2021, Cameroon exported an overall cargo of 76,202 tonnes of cotton, up 61.8% from the 47,099 tonnes exported during the same period in 2020.

After the bad patch of the year 2020, cotton exports in the first half of 2021 brought in 70.8 billion FCFA in revenue in Cameroon, against only 44.4 billion FCFA a year earlier. The volume of revenue thus reaped makes cotton the country's 5th largest export revenue provider (7%) during the period under review, on a par with sawn wood. The acceleration of raw cotton exports can be explained by the gradual return to normal in the global supply chain, after the disruptions observed during the year 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. By way of illustration, according to internal documents at the Société de développement du coton (Sodecoton), at the end of May 2020, in comparison with the same period in 2019, this mixed-capital company "was delayed by approximately 23,000 tons of cotton fibre”, with the direct consequence of a “decline in turnover of approximately 22 billion FCFA, and an increase in the cost of storage and handling in stores”.