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Ghana earned 1.2 billion dollars from non-traditional
exports
Accra, April 10, Ghanadot/GNA –
Non-Traditional Exports (NTEs) fetched the country 1.2
billion dollars last year compared to 892 million dollars in
2006. This represents a 30.5 per cent increase over 2006.
The figure brings NTE contribution to 27.7 per cent of the
country’s total exports of 4.2 billion dollars.
The growth was achieved on the back of earnings from three
main sub-sectors; agriculture, processed and semi-processed
products and handicrafts.
Cocoa paste, canned tuna, veneer, cocoa butter, sheanuts and
pineapples are among the 10 leading NTE products.
“We are on course and our ability to cross the psychological
one billion-dollar mark
is proof that the strategy we have drawn up is working,” Mr
Collins Boateng, Executive Secretary, of Ghana Export
Promotion Council, said.
He was speaking at a press briefing to present the 2007
export performance report.
The GEPC Council set the one billion-dollar target in its
NTE growth strategy some three years ago.
Mr Boateng attributed the performance to enhanced market
access programmes for exporting companies, product
diversification, aggressiveness of Ghanaian exporters and
enhanced data capture through the GCNET system.
The European Union and ECOWAS remained the major destination
of NTEs,
accounting for 46.55 per cent and 31.36 per cent
respectively of the exports. Other African countries,
developed countries and emerging economies hold the
remaining share.
The leading markets include the United Kingdom, France,
Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo and United States.
At the regional level, Nigeria has become a prominent NTEs
market in the ECOWAS sub-region.
Mr Boateng said GEPC was adopting various measures to
develop the ECOWAS sub-regional market. While acknowledging
the impressive growth in the NTE sector, Mr Boateng said
there was the need for increased funding if the sector was
to meet its projection of four billion dollars in revenue by
2010.
On the outlook for 2008, GEPC plans to establish a marketing
company to address the marketing problems of small holder
farmers and thereby address supply side constraints,
mainstream Trade in Services into NTE statistics and
strengthening
institutional capacity of the Council.
“The aggressive implementation of above programme with
funding support from Export Development and Investment Fund
should enable achievement of NTE value of 1.5 billion
dollars by December 2008,” Mr Boateng added.
There are over 383 different non-traditional export products
categorized into agricultural, processed/semi-processed and
handicrafts.
The GEPC had a base of over 3,000 registered private sector
exporting companies organized into 15 product associations.
GNA
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