Ghana’s agro-trade with Dubai rises by 25% in 2018

Ghana’s export trade in agriculture products with Dubai has recorded a significant growth of 25 percent in 2018, as the year recorded US$ 25 million in exports up from US$ 20 million in exports in 2017.

This was revealed by the Head of Dubai Chamber Representative Office in Ghana, Cyril K. Darkwa, in an interview with Goldstreet Business, at the launch of the Meet the Farmer Conference.

Earlier this year, the Chamber was optimistic about increasing non-oil trade with Ghana from 2019 to further deepen bilateral relations between Ghana and Dubai.

With 72 percent of Ghana’s population into agriculture, there is a huge opportunity for those engaged in the trade to tap into the US$ 100 billion market in Dubai, where there are about 16,500 food outlets.

The current trade volume is expected to further increase with the launch of the Meet the Farmers’ Conference (MTFC), which is expected to connect large scale agro -commodity producers to buyers.

Non-oil trade between Ghana and Dubai has risen steadily in recent years, hitting US$1.2 billion in 2017, while the number of Ghanaian companies registered with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce continues to climb.

In all, year to date trade volumes between Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as of November 2018, hovered around US$3.5 billion with the amount expected to reach US$4 billion by end of year.

In April 2018, the Dubai Chamber in Ghana facilitated the visit of a high-level trade delegation of government officials and business leaders to the UAE, with the visit resulting in 175 bilateral meetings to advance commercial ties.

In September last year, the Chamber partnered with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to host the UAE Undersecretary of Economy and high-level businesses from UAE on a trade mission to Ghana with the visit resulting in more than 70 bilateral meetings in Accra.