By Ernest L. Molua
Cameroonians may have munched beef, mutton, pork and chicken for the festive season oblivious to the prices producers receive in the world market place, far away from Muea, Deido, Ndop and Mokolo. This is because most of the producers who supply Cameroon’s local markets are weakly chained to the global market, relying on rudimentary extensive production systems. So, what dictates the prices they charge rests largely on their local cost of production and consumers' acumen to bargain or willingness to accept the prices offered by meat suppliers.
However, for export oriented large-scale modern producers in Cameroon, the workings of the global market place dictate their profit. Domestic prices in Cameroon are higher than the world market prices. This is because of the production glut in Latin America, North America and European. These ‘subsidy beef’ dumped in the world market deflate prices. However, the global market price for beef, mutton, pork and poultry are all showing rising trends. The market price for beef is witnessing a surge catalysed by the demand momentum in the North American and European market. In 2002 the world market price of beef was 95 US cents per pound, translating to a little more than 260 FCFA per Kg. The steady rise in beef price since 2003 has ensured that the price for 2005 is US cents 120 per pound, implying about 330 FCFA per Kg. In Cameroon, the average market price for a kg of beef is 2000 FCFA (US$ 4) for January 2007.
The market for Mutton towers above that of beef. The dominant producers in the northern part of the country are betting for a continuous rise in 2007. However, the world price has been robustly steady between 2004 and 2005 following a steady rise from 2002. The price in 2002 was US cents 146 per pound, translating to about 400 FCFA per kg. The price swung up into 2005 and stood at US cents 155 per pound or 425 FCA per Kg.
Pork producers would welcome the certainty breathed by the market since 2004. The increasing grunt of pork prices from US cents 47 per pound in 2002 to US cents 70 per pound in 2005 indicate the increasing demand that has pushed prices from the 130 FCFA to 190 FCFA per kg within a four year period.
The market for poultry has had its baptism of fire in recent months following producer and consumer panic on bird flu. Some producers had had to slaughter and burn thousands of birds in Asia and Eastern Europe in a desperate attempt to curb the spread of the flu. However, with Cameroonian consumers still holding chicken in high value as a juicy and prestigious meat product on dinning tables, local producers had a field day in the festive season. This is against the backdrop of global prices that stood at US cents 63 per pound in 2002 and held steady to US cents 75 per pound by a stagnating consumer demand.
These intricacies in the market place partly explains why rich nations subsidise their farmers and offer generous aid packages to induce local producers to stay in business. On the contrary the devil in the market is running amok in poor countries, as rich nations dump their low cost products into African markets and African producers plagued by absentee leadership on the part of their policy planners. These highlight the need for Cameroonian farmers to be resilient and be aided by government policies that boost production and play the market game with the assistance of better storage and transport facilities. The year 2007 would definitely be an interesting one for the market watchers!
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