Some brands are however scarce in Yaounde.

People willing to buy cement in the nation’s capital Yaounde, have no reason to worry. The time for teeth-gnashing over the scarcity of the product might not have come, given that shops have been stockpiled with the precious construction material. Although allegations of scarcity might be rolled out; not all brands are readily available in the market.

The Mvog-Mbi market yesterday 6 April 2015 was full of activity as usual. In five building material shops visited, business was at its peak. The demand for cement was high as usual. Stockpiles of cement were visible in all the shops. However, not all brands were available. Customers of imported brands, especially “Conch”, could not be served. Dearth of this has been reported. A customer who came to one of the numerous shops in Mvog Mbi was interested in the “Cimaf” brand. He got his disappointment of the day when the waiter nodded his head in disapproval. Gerard was quick to note that the brand was in short supply. He explained that their shop has not been supplied with “Cimaf” cement in the last two weeks.

Next to the shop is another branch of a big construction material shop with no aorta of “Cimaf” to satisfy the client. One common thing with all shops visited was the availability of “Cimencam” as well as “Ciment Colle” brands.  The only shop that had “Cimaf” was SOREPCO. When Cameroon Tribune got to its warehouse in Mvog-Mbi, 30 tonnes of “Cimaf” (600 sacks) were being off-loaded. A worker who preferred not to be named said they were in the process of supplying their retail shops at FCFA 4,950 per bag.

In Mokolo, the heartbeat of the sale of construction material, some customers were obliged to change their choices. Available in almost seven shops visited was “Cimencam”, sold at FCFA 4,960 per bag. No shop had “Cimaf”. However, not all shops trade in all brands. Only one shop had “Dangote Cement”. The price per sack was FCFA 5,200, same as “Cimaf” in some of the shops..

The Cooperate Technical Director of Cimaf, Karim Moumni, was surprised to hear of scarcity. He told Cameroon Tribune that their plant has not witnessed any reduction in production. Karim explained that the Ministry of Mines, Industries and Technological Development had questioned them on this issue. He stressed that the company meets the 36,000 tons weekly demand.

The Director of Internal Trade in the Ministry of Trade, Valentin Mbarga Bihina on March 20, 2015, refuted allegations of cement scarcity. He disclosed that the three production units in Douala, Littoral Region have the capacity to meet demand.  The country consumes over 2.5 and 3 million tonnes annually. He revealed that local production stands at 3.7 million tonnes annually, with 1.6 million tonnes produced by the Cimenteries du Cameroun, Cimencam, 500,000 tonnes by Ciments d’Afrique, Cimaf, while Dangote Cement is expected to supply the market with 1.6 million metric tonnes annually.