Cameroon: Afreximbank injects 40 million euros into steelmaker Prometal

Afreximbank has granted a 40 million euro revolving credit line, equivalent to 45.3 million dollars or 26.2 billion CFA francs, to the Cameroonian company Prometal SA to finance its working capital. The agreement was signed on September 28, 2026, in Cairo, according to Business in Cameroon.

The document was initialed by Denys Denya, Executive Vice President of the pan-African bank, and Hayssam El Jammal, head of the Prometal group. The funds are intended to be used to purchase billets and semi-finished steel products, which Cameroon does not produce.

An industrial champion dependent on imports

Prometal is presented as the leading producer of steel and metal products in Central Africa. Its factories melt scrap metal collected locally to produce reinforcing bars. However, this scrap metal only covers 40% of its needs, and the country does not mine iron ore: the rest must be imported, notes Business in Cameroon.

It is precisely this missing link that the bank is coming to finance. George Elombi, President of Afreximbank, sees it as a way to "strengthen Africa's local production capacities," according to the Ecofin Agency.

Factories half-empty

The paradox is that Prometal's constraint is not just supply. The installed capacity of the Cameroonian steel industry reaches 1.2 million tons per year, for a domestic demand estimated at around 450,000 tons: an industrial apparatus 2.7 times larger than its market. The factories are reportedly operating at half their capacity, with 30 billion CFA francs worth of unsold finished products as of September 2026, according to the same source.

The group has since expanded its scope. Through its subsidiary NOVIA Industries, created in 2018, it has diversified into aluminum and palm oil refining. In September 2025, it raised 54.4 billion CFA francs for its ProAlu project from BGFI Bank, Société Générale Cameroun, Proparco, and Afriland First Bank, according to the Ecofin Agency.

What this loan solves, and what it does not

This financing secures an operating cycle, not a model. Local processing remains the right objective: a country that manufactures its own reinforcing bars keeps the value and jobs at home. But as long as the raw material comes from abroad and the domestic market remains narrow, profitability will depend on two projects that the credit does not finance: opening up regional markets via CEMAC and the African Continental Free Trade Area, and the development of Cameroonian iron ore.

Hayssam El Jammal asserts that the operation reflects the desire to "turn Africa's industrial ambitions into reality," according to Business in Cameroon. The test will come from the order books.