Société industrielle de traitement de cellulose (Sitracel) made an announcement indicating that it has started selling protective face-masks. According to the company controlled by Cameroonian billionaire Paul Kammogne Fokam, these masks are made with “100% non-woven fabric, with hydrophobic filter (does not let water through)” and have “4 filtering barriers.”
These multi-coloured masks are for both “medical” and “ordinary use,” the announcement states. They are sold between XAF300 and 600 per unit, depending on whether they are for single-use or reusable, we learn.
Sitracel thus becomes the 2nd industrial unit in Cameroon to start producing and selling fabric anti-COVID-19 masks, after Cicam, a public textile company.
With its highly competitive prices, Sitracel is positioning itself as a real competitor to CICAM. The latter is selling its masks at a controversial XAF1,300 per unit because of the standard and durability of the product (number of recommended washes).
CICAM: a doubtful challenge of producing 15 mln face masks monthly
public textile company Cicam started selling face masks in the local market. According to our sources, it produces this anti-COVID-19 equipment at the rate of 5,000 to 9,000 pieces daily. This means that the maximum it could produce each month is 270,000 pieces.
This is far below the 15 million estimates announced by the Minister of Industry Dodo Ndocké during his visit to Cicam’s facilities on April 8, 2020.
This estimated target is all the more unreachable given the price (deemed prohibitive) at which CICAM is selling the masks. Indeed, pretexting the absence of state subsidies, Cicam sells its masks at XAF1,300 per piece.
At the same time, apart from considerations related to durability and standardization, very small SMEs deliver this equipment at XAF300 or even XAF500. Importers are also eying the market.
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