Cameroon Import Trade Data: $8.30B in 2023, Up 4.7%

China and India Lead Cameroon's Import Suppliers

Cameroon imported $8.30 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 4.7% from $7.93 billion the year before, continuing a climb that has held in nearly every year covered by this dataset. China supplied 19.0% of that total, worth $1.57 billion, well ahead of any other single source. India ranked second at 11.6% ($959.89 million), and France followed at 7.6% ($632.41 million), a continuation of the same colonial-era relationship visible on Cameroon's export side. Together, China, India, and France, the top three suppliers, account for 38.1% of total import value, a far less concentrated spread than what shows up among Cameroon's export buyers, where a single Dutch relationship alone accounts for a larger share than China does here. That broader spread of supplier countries on the import side is typical of a country buying a wide range of manufactured goods, food staples, and industrial inputs from wherever they are cheapest, rather than shipping a handful of raw commodities to whichever refineries and processors happen to be closest.

United States took fourth place at 4.8% ($400.95 million), ahead of Belgium at 4.4% ($367.23 million) and Germany at 3.1% ($254.53 million). The United Arab Emirates added 2.5% ($211.21 million), Norway 2.3% ($188.08 million), the United Kingdom 2.2% ($181.69 million), and Japan rounded out the top ten, also at 2.2% ($178.38 million).

Fuel Imports Reveal a Refining Gap

Mineral fuels led all import categories in 2023, worth $2.01 billion and accounting for 24.2% of total value, more than any other category by a wide margin. That is a striking pairing with Cameroon's export profile, where mineral fuels are also the single largest category, worth $2.69 billion. Reporting on Cameroon's energy sector explains that the country's only oil refinery, SONARA, has been offline since a 2019 explosion and fire damaged four of its production units, forcing the government to let SONARA and other licensed agents import and market refined petroleum products instead. India's position as Cameroon's second-largest supplier fits neatly into that picture: trade data shows Cameroon imported $419.09 million worth of mineral fuels, oils, and distillation products from India alone in 2023, well over a third of everything India supplied to Cameroon that year across every product category, and a reflection of India's emergence as one of the world's largest exporters of refined petroleum products, thanks to large-scale refining capacity that produces far more fuel than India's own domestic market can absorb.

Beyond fuel, machinery and mechanical appliances ranked second at 8.5% ($701.70 million), and cereals followed at 7.8% ($644.39 million), a reminder that Cameroon still imports significant food staples, largely wheat and rice, despite having a substantial domestic agricultural sector of its own. Vehicles added 6.6% ($545.77 million), electrical machinery 4.7% ($388.50 million), and iron and steel 3.7% ($310.36 million). Fish and crustaceans, somewhat unusual for a country with its own coastline and fishing industry, contributed another 3.7% ($304.26 million). Pharmaceutical products rounded out the more essential categories at 3.3% ($277.00 million), while plastics added 3.1% ($258.69 million) and salt, stone, and cement materials closed out the top ten at 2.3% ($192.88 million).

A Steady Climb That Outpaces Cameroon's Exports

Cameroon's import total has climbed in four of the past five years. It stood at $6.56 billion in 2019, dipped to $5.61 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade, then recovered to $6.97 billion in 2021, $7.93 billion in 2022, and $8.30 billion in 2023, up 4.7% year over year. Unlike the export total, which peaked in 2022 and pulled back in 2023, imports kept climbing through the same stretch, widening the gap between what the country buys and sells abroad.

That gap is now substantial: Cameroon exported $4.97 billion worth of goods in 2023 against $8.30 billion in imports, a shortfall of well over $3 billion even though the country is, on paper, a net oil exporter. The refining gap behind the fuel import numbers helps explain part of that imbalance, since crude leaves the country largely unrefined while a quarter of the import bill goes toward buying back finished petroleum products from elsewhere, a costly round trip that persists until the domestic refinery is repaired and back in operation. For a closer look at how individual partner countries or product categories break down year over year, the data panels above provide the full detail behind these figures.