Timber exports drop

Figures available indicate that Ghana realised euro 7,187,938 from export of 21,020m3 in December 2011 as against euro 8,265.642 from 26421 m3 in 2010, showing a decrease of 13.04% in value and 20.44% in volume respectively.

Mr. Alhassan N. Attah, Executive Director of Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the Forestry Commission (FC), has disclosed in Accra.

He said rapid population growth in the past four decades has resulted in the harvesting of almost all economic tropical trees like Odum, Sapele, Mahogany, and Wawa among others for the housing and construction industry -- leaving lesser-known species to meet both the domestic and international markets.

He explained that some lesser-known species, which hitherto were discarded in the industry, have now by means of scientific methods become more acceptable to consumers.

On the recent smuggling of wood products through the ports in containers, he said his outfit has strengthened its vigilance and also beefed-up personnel at the TIDD offices in both the Takoradi and Tema ports, and implemented application of the GCNET to track down the criminals involved.

He said the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) -- which is a binding legal instrument between the European Union (EU) and some timber-producing countries -- that Ghana signed in 1999 has ensured sanity in the timber trade by ensuring the export of only legally-produced timber products into the EU market.

Mr. Alhassan Attah said the recent concept of importing timber from Cameroon to meet domestic needs is a laudable move as a means of checking the rate of deforestation.

He said for some time now many countries have shown considerable interest in the high quality of Ghana’s wood products, and as a result emerging markets for our products in Asia and the Far East now include India, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Singapore, and Thailand.

ECOWAS markets also include Nigeria as a major importer, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso while our major Middle East importing countries are Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Israel.