Under declaration of raw rubber export revenues has robbed the industry of $70million between 2024 and 2025. Also, export volumes exceeded stated permits.

An internal investigation carried out and report copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said Export data of raw rubber obtained from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) showed that the nation exported 89.68 million tonnes of raw rubber in 2024 alone.

“Meanwhile, the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), did not issue a single permit for raw rubber export in that year.”

The report said although,the TCDA issued permits for the export of 13,000 tonnes of raw rubber in 2025 official data covering the entire year, except for October and November, showed that 39,000 tonnes of raw rubber were exported, representing an excess of 26,000 tonnes of raw rubber export.

The scale of under-invoicing in the raw rubber export business appears to facilitate a systematic repatriation of resources from the economy.

The report said the TCDA had also set the average minimum price of raw rubber for 2024 and 2025 at GH¢8.62 and GH¢9.08 per kilogramme, respectively, but the average declared Free on Board price for 2024 and 2025 by exporters of raw rubber was GH¢0.99 and GH¢1.91 per kilogramme, respectively.

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“This means that every kilogramme of exported raw rubber in 2024 and 2025 was under-invoiced by an average of GH¢7.63 and GH¢7.17, respectively.

“This means exporters declared just about 12 per cent of the actual value and volume of raw rubber exports for 2024, and about 22 per cent of the export in 2025.”

The report said in the export business, Section 15 of the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) required exporters to repatriate the full export proceeds through a licensed bank to meet the obligation of the Letters of Commitment necessary for export.

“So, for 2024, the complicit exporters brought back just $6.17 million into the Ghanaian economy out of the actual export value of $55.83 million, while in 2025, they shipped out $26.03 million worth of raw rubber but brought back just $4.48 million.

“Customs records suggest that two agencies dominated the raw rubber export trade in 2024 and 2025”.

George Eshun, a rubber cultivator, who farms in the Nzema East District in the Western North Region, confirmed that raw rubber was sold locally for GH¢8.30 currently.

He admitted, however, that he sold to whoever was ready and willing to buy, and that the market was not restricted to local processors.

Although local rubber processing factories currently have a combined capacity of 171,460 tonnes per year, industry data show that the country produced just around 110,800 tonnes of raw rubber in 2025, as intimated by the Ghana Rubber Estate in a recent annual general meeting.

“Indicating that the country’s rubber processing capacity far outstrips the raw rubber production scale by a deficit of more than 60,000 tonnes, constituting about 35 per cent of the raw rubber produced by the country.

“The wide deficit consequently leaves the local processing infrastructure idle for most of the year as the country was unable to supply in adequate quantities to meet local processing scale”.

The report said it was for this reason that the government announced a restriction on raw rubber export to ensure adequate supplies for local processing factories.

Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare,the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, stated during her turn at the Government Accountability Series that Cabinet had approved restrictions on the export of raw natural rubber to protect domestic industries and ensure that local manufacturers had access to an adequate supply of raw materials.

The report said Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minister for Finance also made a similar announcement during the presentation of the 2026 Budget Statement to Parliament in November last year.

“Indeed, with approximately 39,000 tonnes of raw rubber exported in 2025, for instance, domestic processors were left with only about 60,000 tonnes of raw rubber to process exposing local processing companies to the risk of collapse.

“Currently, all the local rubber processing firms are producing at less than 40 per cent capacity, with jobs cut by more than 35 per cent”.

The report said since 2024, one of the local processing factories, Apex, had not processed a single ounce of raw rubber.

“Meanwhile, five of the other six processing factories have scaled down due to the lack of raw rubber entrenching into industry job security, youth unemployment, the value of investments in rubber processing infrastructure, and even state revenue from taxes.

The Association of Natural Rubber Actors of Ghana (ANRAG) in a letter dated July 2, 2025, through its President, Emmanuel Owusu, raised concerns over “the continued transportation and apparent export of raw rubber within the Tema Port enclave.”

The Association, demanded a stricter enforcement to ensure that Ghana’s rubber industries were protected.