Ghana earns €55m from timber exports in 5 months
Ghana earns an amount of €55 million from the country’s accumulative wood product exports in the first five months of 2010, according to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).
The amount was earned from the export of 166,920 cubic metres of wood products – a 3.1% increase in volume and a 10% rise in value compared with the first five months of 2009.
According to the ITTO, for the period under review, export volumes of both air and kiln dried boules, air and kiln dried sawnwood, and mouldings increased 58%, 15%, 27% and 16% respectively in comparison to the same period in 2009.
There was however, a drop in the exports of veneers and other wood products within the period and that was attributed to inadequate log supply and decreased export contracts.
Meanwhile, Ghana will from next year export its first wood products under the newly adopted voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) of the European Union (EU).
Ghana signed a VPA with the EU on November 20, 2009 in Brussels, making Ghana the first country to sign a voluntary agreement with the EU.
Under the terms of the agreement only legally harvested timber from the country will be exported to the European market.
The agreement which is in keeping with the European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Government and Trade (FLEG) action plan establishes the legal framework of surveillance and monitoring aimed at ensuring that all timber imports into the EU have been acquired, harvested, transported and exported in accordance with the law in Ghana. The agreement also creates a national legality assurance system for all timber and timber products sold in the EU, on non-EU markets and on the domestic market. It also provides for independent third-party audits of the entire legality assurance system to guarantee credibility and effective verification and licensing.
In January this year, Ghana and the EU held the first monitoring and review meeting in Accra to look at the impact of the VPA. The agenda for the meeting included Rules of the procedure; Ghana and EU synopsis of progress since initialing; Plan of action for 2010; Aide memoir and to fix a date for the next review meeting.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi