Last Updated- Jun 5, 2009 10:00 - - 0 Comments


Ghana suffers drop in timber exports in first quarter 2009

timberGhana’s wood product export industry has weakened in the first quarter of 2009 according to international timber trade information obtained by ghanabusinessnews.com.

According to the industry’s latest market report by the International Tropical Timber Organisation, Ghana’s exports were worth €30m from a volume of 93,424m³, which represented a contraction of 34.7% and 31.4% respectively.

The report indicated that the only product sector to see some benefit was air-dried lumber, which experienced a 44.7% rise by volume and 3.6% increase in value during the quarter.

Europe, it said, imported €12.17m (40.4%) of Ghana’s wood product exports by value and 29,815m³ by volume.

The report, however, did not assign reasons for the drop, but industry analysts say the global economic crisis which has affected the entire export sector is a major factor.

Meanwhile, an overview of a research presented in May in Accra said the Ghana government lost $18 million annually as a result of illegal chainsaw operations in the timber industry.

The study said the loss was twice the annual revenue (stumpage fees) collected by the Forestry Commission of Ghana.

Presenting the report at a two-day Tropenbos – European Union (EU) Regional workshop on chainsaw lumbering in West Africa, Dr Emmanuel Marfo, a Research Scientist at the Forestry Research Institute, said despite the banning of illegal chainsaw milling activities in the country, the practice had continued to boom.

He said currently, over 84,000 people were engaged in the practice in eight forest districts of the country adding that because these people have no alternative sources of livelihood, government was not able to enforce the law on illegal chainsaw milling since its enforcement would mean taking those people out of jobs with its political ramifications.

He said people who were granted concessionary rights to engage in the business felled up to 2 million cubic metres of timber annually, falling short of the 2.4 million cubic metres, felled by the illegal operators for the same period.

He warned that if the practice was not controlled, it would present the country with dire consequences on her rainfall pattern and climatic conditions among others in the next few years.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

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