Earnings
from non-traditional exports (NTEs) increased from $2.84 billion in 2020 to
$3.33 billion in 2021.
This represents an increase of
17 per cent.
The performance is associated
with economic recovery post COVID-19 on global trade, which the World Trade Organisation (WTO) forecasted to
expand with double-digit numbers.
The highest contributing subsector to the growth was
processed and semi processed products which accounted for about 84.35 per cent
of the exports while agricultural produce and industrial arts and crafts
represented 14.2 per cent and 1. 35 per cent, respectively.
This was contained in a report
on the analysis of the 2021 NTE statistics which
was launched in Accra on July 5, 2022.
Product performance
The report listed the top 10 leading NTE products as: cocoa
paste, cocoa butter, cashew nuts, articles of plastics, canned tuna and natural
rubber sheets.
The rest are refined palm
olein, iron/steel circles, rods, sheets and billets, cocoa powder and aluminium
plates.
It noted that cocoa paste
maintained its lead over cocoa butter as the highest earner with aluminium
plates, sheets and coils as the lowest earner.
The first and 10th earned
$495.89 million and $90.98 million, respectively. Average earning of the top 10
earners was $209.686 million.
Total value of the top 10
leading products amounted to $2,096,864,960, representing 62.96 per cent of
total NTE earnings in the period under review.
Cocoa paste, which is the biggest earner, contributed 14.89
per cent to the total NTEs while aluminium plates, sheets and coils contributed
2.73 per cent.
Cashew nuts was the only
agricultural product that showed up in the top 10 leading products. The rest
were all processed and semi processed products.
Non-traditional market performance
The report said in 2021, NTE
products were exported to 152 countries within the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom and
other developed countries, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), other African countries and emerging
economies.
Regarding the performance of the NTE sector by markets, the
report showed that ECOWAS, the EU and UK absorbed $1,096,275,617 (22.49 per
cent) and $1.197 billion (35.96 per cent), respectively.
“The rest of Africa, other
developed countries as well as emerging countries absorbed 1.59 per cent, 7.85
per cent, 21.67 per cent respectively, of NTEs,” the report said.
Remarkable performance
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export Promotion
Authority (GEPA), Dr Afua Asabea Asare, noted that since the year 2017, Ghana’s
NTEs has grown at an annual average rate of 7.07 per cent.
She said the remarkable
performance of the NTE sector in 2021 over 2020 has been attributed to a number
of factors – prominent among them being a general increase in demand for NTE products,
expansions of capacities of major companies, adherence to protocols of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) by most
member states, and relentless trade facilitation efforts by GEPA under the
auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
“Sectors such as export, have
emerged from this whole experience learning to push boundaries aggressively to
sell what we have through virtual, creative or targeted promotional means,” she
said.
Dr Asare said the GEPA, as
part of efforts to achieve the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) goal
of $25.3billion by the year 2029, embarked on some initiatives.
These included the launch of
the One Year Online Diploma in International Trade to enable exporters to scale
up their knowledge base and enable them to compete favourably in international
markets.
Also included was the launch
of the GEPA Impact Hub which offers a fully equipped ultramodern information
resource centre with 3 key partner organisations – Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority and Plant Protection
& Regulatory Services Division of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture permanently
within the same office space.
Spurce:Graphic.co.gh