Market intelligence · physical trade

Supply chain intelligence and direct trade across Africa's commodity corridors.

Importers price their inputs off numbers they cannot verify. We collect those numbers at origin — prices, producer capacity, export documentation — on the goods you actually buy, and put a report in your inbox every week.

DOUALA · KRIBI Europe Brazil India China
Four corridors · one originAtlantic & Indian Ocean

What we track

Published price indices tell you where a commodity closed in London. They do not tell you what a cooperative outside Yaoundé will actually accept, whether it can fill your tonnage, or whether its paperwork will survive a customs inspection. That gap is where importers lose margin. We close it — across the four areas below, on whichever goods sit on your own buying list.

01 / PRICES

Farm gate to FOB

What producers are actually asking this week, by region and quality grade — not last quarter's average.

02 / CAPACITY

Who can fill the tonnage

Volumes available now, lead times, and which producers have surplus they need to move quickly.

03 / COMPLIANCE

Paperwork that holds

Export permits, tax clearance, EUDR traceability. Which counterparties have it, and which will delay your cargo.

04 / TIMING

When to buy

Harvest calendars, seasonal price movement, and the windows where waiting two weeks costs or saves you real money.

Start with a sample report

Name one commodity and one corridor — whatever you actually buy, not whatever is listed on this page. We build a report against your specification and send it at no cost. If it changes how you buy, the weekly subscription follows.

Request a sample

Four corridors

These are the lanes we trade on our own account, and they are deliberately few — we open one only where a market has a durable surplus and its counterpart a durable deficit. Not a seasonal spread, not a bad harvest somewhere: a structural gap that is still there next year. What we track is a separate question, set by what you buy rather than by this list.

Africa Europe Priority lane
African food and specialty retail in Europe is supplied largely by importers buying on trust and a single relationship. When that supplier misses a shipment or quietly moves a price, there is no second number to check it against. This is the corridor we know best, and the one where a week of accurate data changes the invoice.

Africa Europe

  • Cassava & tuber staples Bobolo, gari and cassava flour — the volume staples of diaspora retail.
  • Spices, aromatics & dried leaves Hibiscus, njangsa, pèbè, okok and the rest of the pantry.
  • Kola & bitter kola Priced by grade, not by whoever happens to answer the phone.
  • Oils & fats Red palm, groundnut and shea, with sourcing that survives an audit.
  • Coffee & specialty cocoa Single-origin lots for roasters and specialty retail, not bulk grade.
  • Beauty & personal care inputs Shea butter, black soap and cosmetic oils for the beauty distribution trade.
  • Health & wellness ingredients Moringa, baobab, ginger and turmeric, into a European market turning functional.

Europe Africa

  • Packaging & labelling Retail-ready packaging that meets EU labelling rules before the goods ship.
  • Processing equipment Mills, dryers and cold chain for producers adding value at origin.
  • Consumer goods & FMCG European brands into Cameroonian and regional distribution.
Africa Brazil Industrial gap
Brazil's cocoa grinding capacity was built larger than its own crop — the mills in Bahia have to import beans to run. That gap is industrial, not agricultural, and no harvest closes it.

Africa Brazil

  • Cocoa beans Cameroonian origin direct to Bahia grinders, traceable to farm level.
  • Cocoa products Butter, liquor and cake from Cameroonian processing.

Brazil Africa

  • Sugar Cameroon's refining capacity runs short of national demand; Brazil is the world's lowest-cost exporter.
  • Protein & feed inputs Frozen beef and soybean meal for the poultry sector.
Africa India Established flow
India is already Cameroon's supplier of first resort for rice, and its chocolate market is among the fastest-growing sources of new cocoa demand anywhere. The relationship exists; it is simply under-brokered.

Africa India

  • Sawn timber & wood products Certified Central African hardwoods.
  • Cotton Cameroonian lint into Indian spinning.
  • Cocoa beans Serving a chocolate market growing on rising incomes.
  • Cashew, sesame & oilseeds India processes more raw cashew than anywhere on earth, and buys African seed to do it.
  • Natural rubber Into Indian tyre and industrial manufacturing.

India Africa

  • Rice India and Thailand together already supply the overwhelming majority of Cameroon's rice.
  • Generic pharmaceuticals A lower-cost answer to European pricing.
  • Agro-inputs & fertiliser Crop protection and nutrition for African producers, at Indian pricing.
Africa China Largest partner
China is Cameroon's biggest trading counterpart by value and the primary destination for its timber. The volume is there. What is missing is anyone representing the African side of the table.

Africa China

  • Timber & logs The established flow, and the one most in need of honest brokerage.
  • Cotton Into Chinese textile manufacturing.
  • Cocoa beans A young grinding sector, growing fast.
  • Natural rubber China is the largest natural rubber importer in the world.
  • Sesame & oilseeds One of the steadiest African flows into China, and one of the least brokered.

China Africa

  • Machinery & equipment Agricultural and processing plant.
  • Construction inputs For Cameroon's infrastructure build-out.
  • Packaging & consumer goods Retail packaging and finished goods into regional distribution.

Goods listed here are representative, not exhaustive — they are what we trade, not the limit of what we track. If what you buy is not on this page, it is still very likely something we can report on. Send us the specification.

Four ways to work with us

Most counterparties start with intelligence and stay there. Some want us to find the buyer, carry the paperwork, or take the cargo ourselves. We work at whichever level the trade needs.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Weekly reports, built to your brief

You set the scope: the goods you buy, the origins you buy from, your specifications and volumes. We report against it weekly — prices, producer capacity, compliance status and timing signals — with direct access to us for follow-up. If part of your buying sits outside Africa, we cover those origins too. Your first report is free.

BROKERAGE

Matchmaking & negotiation

We identify the counterparty, verify their standing, and negotiate price, specs and Incoterms on your behalf. You contract directly; we earn a commission on completion.

TRADE FACILITATION

Documents, logistics, compliance

Phytosanitary certificates, certificates of origin, EUDR traceability files, freight booking and inspection coordination — the paperwork that turns a handshake into a discharged cargo.

PRINCIPAL TRADING

Buy, ship, deliver

For selected flows we take title ourselves: sourcing at origin, arranging finance and freight, and delivering to the buyer's port under our own contract.

Rooted at origin,
trained in Geneva's discipline

Data on African commodities is usually collected by people who have never stood at a farm gate. Ours is not. We were built on both sides — a producing family at origin, and formal training in the trading capital of the world.

Tell us what you buy

Name the goods, the specification and the volume you move in a normal year — whatever they are. We come back within 48 hours with a sample report on your corridor — price range at origin, who can supply it, and what the documentation looks like.

Offices
Bern, Switzerland · Yaoundé, Cameroon
Working languages
EN · FR · DE · PT · NL
Response time
Within 48 hours, any time zone
Email
deals@54trading.com
WhatsApp / Phone
+41 76 408 58 11