The Cameroon Development Corporation, a company that grows, processes, and markets tropical crops and operates in the Central African subregion, exported 10,400 tons of bananas in the first three months of 2025. This is the first time the organization has reached this first-quarter level since 2018.

Seven years ago, the company shipped 11,631 tons but was forced to halt operations due to a local crisis. By September 2018, the company had completely stopped exporting bananas and restarted operations in June 2020.

However, recovery was slow, and this is the first quarter that the CDC has surpassed 10,000 tons.

According to Business in Cameroon, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé announced that a debt takeover agreement was reached with Société Générale and AGF Bank to restructure CDC's debts.

The minister said in his speech that "the state, through a debt takeover agreement, transferred CDC's debt of approximately US$98.6 million to the two banks. This included around US$58.4 million in unpaid wages and US$39.8 million in social security contributions. As part of the deal, US$33 million was paid to workers in 2024, with the remaining US$24.8 million to be paid this year. The tax debt of US$52.5 million was converted into CDC equity."

Cameroon bananas had an up-and-down export season in 2024. Although CDC exports have been increasing, the other leading banana exporter in the region, Plantations du Haut Penja (PHP)—another subsidiary of Compagnie fruitière de Marseille—saw exports decrease from 162,267 tons in 2023 to 153,258 tons in 2024.

At the beginning of the season, banana exports from Cameroon reached 210,686 tons, a 1.8% increase from 2023. However, exports declined in November 2024 by 19.4% from the previous year.