Data from Ghana’s Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) shows that wood product exports in the first quarter 2017 totalled 72,533 cbm compared to 92,314cbm for the same period in 2016, a 21 per cent decline.
Export values in the first quarter of 2017 were also down by around the same amount. The decline in exports was observed for all major wood products. The main exports in the first quarter 2017 were air-dried sawnwood, kiln dried sawnwood, plywood, billets and sliced veneer.
In the first quarter of 2017, overland exports of plywood and sliced veneer were 4,547cbm and 32cbm respectively. There were no exports of sawnwood to neighbouring countries in the first quarter. Primary products accounted for 6.5 per cent of first quarter exports, secondary products accounted for the bulk of exports (at 90 per cent) with the balance being tertiary product exports.
The main species exported included papao/apa, wawa, teak, ceiba and senya. Ghana continued to maintain its major markets. Only the US and Middle East registered increased imports of wood products from Ghana in the first quarter of 2017 against that of 2016. Exports to all other markets fell.
Source: ITTO
