The export of Ghana’s wood products in May 2016 yielded Euro 18.7 million from a volume of 33,348 cubic metres which represents an increases of 37% in value and 23% in volume compared to exports in May 2015, ITTO reported.
In terms of species the top were teak, rosewood, wawa, papao/apa and ceiba and exports went to 39 different markets with the top 5 being India, China, Vietnam, United States of America and Germany.
Wood product exports to African countries included plywood (overland transport), sliced veneer, air and kiln dry sawnwood, rotary veneer and mouldings. Major destinations included Egypt, South Africa, Morocco; with the ECOWAS sub-region market taking the largest share of 16,490 cubic metres valued at Euro 4.92 million.
Despite the better export performance in May, Ghana’s overland wood exports during the first 5 months of the year suffered some setback as sliced veneer, sawnwood and plywood exports were down year on year.
Plywood exports were particularly badly down. Nigeria, which had been the leading importer of Ghana’s plywood, slipped to the second ranked importer after Niger, with Burkina Faso and Togo ranked 3rd and 4th. The drop in Nigeria’s plywood import has been attributed to the foreign exchange controls introduced by Nigeria’s Central Bank.
In the first 5 months the major market destination for Ghana’s wood products were; Asia/Far East 113,671 cubic metres (71%); Europe 18,972 cubic metres (12%); Africa 19,786 cubic metres (12%); America 5,510 cubic metres (3%) and Middle East countries 2,953 cubic metres (2%).
