Non-traditional export rake in $2.44bn

Export of non-traditional products for the year 2013 amounted to $2.439 billion, an increase of 3.5 per cent over the previous year’s earnings of $2.364 billion.

Between 2001 to 2008, the sector had grown steadily at an annual rate of about 16.4 per cent, with the highest rate of 30.4 per cent occurring in 2007.

In 2010 and 2011, earnings from the sector went up by 34.1 per cent and 48.74 per cent, amounting to $1.629 billion and $2.423 billion respectively.

The acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Mr Gideon Quarcoo, disclosed these at the 75th National Exporters Forum and the launch of the 2013 Non-Traditional Export Statistics in Accra.

According to Mr Quarcoo, though the export sector is driven by value-added products such as cocoa and timber, it is yet to explore its full potential and, therefore, charged exporters to add value to their products as a way of achieving a change in the export market to better the Ghanaian economy.

Highlighting the 2013 performance of the non-traditional export sector, Mr Quarcoo indicated that Burkina Faso had overtaken Togo as a leading market for Ghana’s non-traditional products to the ECOWAS sub-region.

He said export of Ghanaian products to Burkina Faso increased by 19.28 per cent, accruing $197.09 million, compared to $165.23 million in 2012.

He said Togo followed closely but that its share of Ghanaian products reduced from $202.54 million in 2012 to $161.68 million in 2013.

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“Senegal occupies the tenth position with an amount of $12.85 million, compared to its $11.80 million in 2012, an increase of 8.96 per cent,” he said.

Mr Quacoo noted that to ensure that GEPA’s target for 2014, as well as the $5 billion target of the National Export Strategy by 2017 was achieved, there was the need for an aggressive implementation of GEPA’s activities and programmes.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, said about 42 per cent of Ghana’s export was to the European Union market.

He assured that the government was taking note of all the different anxieties regarding the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).