Gabon is experiencing a rainy season, which is affecting timber mill operations in the hinterland.
During the rainy season, Gabonese veneer and plywood factories can continue production. However, affected by the rainy season, log stocks have dropped, especially Okoume log stocks, which have dropped significantly.
At the same time, China's demand for African timber is rising, especially for Bilinga, Ayous, Okan, Movinggui, Sapelli, and Okoume, the interest is particularly strong.
In April, Cameroon's Forest Minister Jules Doret Ndongo signed an agreement to ban the export of 76 types of logs to promote local processing, and is scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2028.
In recent years, the Cameroonian government has taken measures to gradually increase export tariffs on logs in order to improve the development of its own wood processing industry.
From 2017 to 2023, Cameroon's log export tax rate gradually increased from 17.5% to 60%, an overall increase of 243%, and in 2024, it may be further increased to 75%.
More and more investments are encouraged and appealed to those African countries who have rich forest resources. We believe that in the near future, the neighbour countries to Gabon and Cameroon will find their ways to develop their own industries. It's much concerned whether they would be able to keep the deforesting in a reasonable pace and make their devotion to carbon neutrality.