1. Cocoa
Ghana is the second-largest producer of cocoa in the world with a 2019 production of 850,000 tons. Cocoa provides the second-largest source of total export earnings, representing 30% of GDP. The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) determines the domestic buying price of cocoa beans and the purchasing season as a way to monitor and regulate the operations of the cocoa industry in Ghana.
COCOBOD currently purchases a ton of cocoa at GHS 8,240 (GHS 515 per bag). Cocoa is grown in the Ashanti, Eastern, Western, Western North, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, and Volta regions represented by families, communities, or cooperatives.Cocoa is mainly processed for export but there is a relatively small domestic market for Ghanaian finished cocoa products.
This is predominantly supplied by Golden Tree (the Ghana Cocoa Processing Company for confectionery and cosmetic products), Nestle, and Unilever (chocolate and drink products).
2. Coffee
Ghana is the third-largest coffee producer in sub-Saharan African just behind Liberia and the Central Africa Republic. Ghana produced 735 tons of coffee in 2018. Coffee is grown in the Ashanti, Bono, Ahafo, Eastern, Central, and Volta regions of Ghana. Coffee yield in Ghana was estimated at 2.0 tons per hectare in 2014. 12,250 tons of green coffee were exported in 2015 and currently, there is a 65% supply deficit that needs to be filled.
Through effective regulations and stakeholder engagements, the average farm-gate price of coffee rose from GHS 40 per 65 KG in 2010 to GHS 250 per 65 KG in 2016. In addition, under good farm management practices, an average net income of about GHS 6, 988.30 (US$ 1,767.50) per hectare is estimated to be obtained by the farmer.
Currently, there are 30 Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) registered to engage in internal purchasing and exports of coffee in Ghana. There are about 10 major roasters of Coffee in Ghana. Regulatory bodies for the coffee industry are COCOBOD, CRIG, and International Coffee Organization.
3. Shea
The Shea industry in Ghana is as old as the cocoa industry. Northern Ghana is the farm belt of shea and its products. The shea industry is currently dominated by women and children who pick and process shea into nuts for sale directly, or as butter on a small scale. The industry is currently assuming a large-scale commercial status with the advent of large-scale shea (nut and butter) buyers and exporters who have in recent years discovered the high value of shea on the international market and are cashing in on it as quickly as possible.
Ghana is currently collecting 130,000 metric tons of shea nuts but has the capacity to do 200,000. Ghana recorded USD 33,572,000 in value of exported processed or industrial shea nuts.
The most active stakeholders in the shea industry are Civil Society Groups comprising the Shea Dealers Associations in all the regions of Northern Ghana, individuals as well as NGOs such as SNV, a Dutch Development Organization, TechnoServe, a US-oriented Food Security organization, the Association of Church Development Projects (ACDEP) and its subsidiary, Savanna Farmers Marketing Company, Ghana Nuts, and PBC.
4. Oil Palm
Oil Palm is the most important edible oil crop in Ghana and in the whole West Africa region. Oil Palm and palm kernel oil represent 2% of the total agricultural production value of Ghana. Ghana exported USD 71.3 million worth of oil palm in 2018. The most suitable areas identified for oil palm cultivation are the Western, Central, and Eastern regions. Large nucleus estates are sited in these regions. The total area under oil palm cultivation is 300,000 hectares. The average yield is 6.3 tons. Major exporters of Crude Palm Oil are Wilmar Africa Ltd, Avnash Industries Ghana Ltd, Praise Export Services Ltd, Ghana Oil Palm Development Company Ltd, etc.
5. Coconut
Ghana is endowed with the ideal climatic conditions for increased production of coconut for both domestic and foreign markets. It is usually grown in smallholder plantations in 8 out of the 16 regions of the country. The total annual production of coconut currently stands at approximately 229 million pieces of coconuts, equivalent to between 350 and 400 thousand MT (2017). Currently, the majority of coconut is consumed domestically, within Ghana. However, there is currently a deliberate effort by the Ghana Government to promote the expansion of the acreages under coconut cultivation to take advantage of the increasing demand in the international markets. Ghana made about USD 1,808,718 in exports of dried or fresh coconut. Coconut is also processed for its oil and shell used for charcoal. Local processors of coconut are Zaacoal, Makola coconut oil, and GKV investments.
6. Cashew
The Bono, Ahafo, Bono East regions account for about 90% of cashew production and exports in Ghana. Ghana controls 43.8% of global in-shell cashew exports. Ghana produced about 70,000 metric tons in 2016. Cashew exports earned the country USD 981M in 2016. There are about 13 processing companies in Ghana with an installed capacity of 35,000 metric tons per year but they process less than 10% of cashew produced in Ghana because farmers claim they get more value in selling raw cashew on the international market than selling it to local processors. The Kristo Buase monastery is the largest cashew plantation In Ghana.
7. Rubber
Ghana has 19,000 hectares of rubber plantations, including 12,000 hectares of industrial plantations. Out of the 7,000 are village plantations and 3,600 are recently planted plantations. Current production stands at some 12,000 tons a year, ranking Ghana in the fifth position in Africa. Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL) is the rubber production company that owns the largest industrial rubber plantation in the country, controlling 98 percent of the domestic rubber market. It holds a 36-year concession of 15,000 ha, of which 9,034 ha are under tapping (of 13,377 ha are planted). GREL’s processing plant produces 15 MT dry rubber content (DRC) of rubber per annum with 5 TM DRC coming from out-growers.
8. Cotton
The production of cotton in Ghana covers the five northern regions and part of the Bono and Ahafo regions specifically, the Kintampo and Atebubu areas. It is purely done by smallholders (peasants) and an out-grower system, typically featuring a farmer and his household. Cotton production has dropped drastically from 45,000 tons in 1998 to 13,000 in 2017 hence contributing very little to the country's GDP.
The world import value for fresh coconuts (HS code 080112) reached USD 354.7M, with a total imported quantity of 712.3K tons. Annual growth in value between 2016-2020 was 21%. China has the largest share in world imports in this segment, holding 83.3%, and has indicated a growth of 21% increase in imports from 2016 to 2020.
As of 2020, Indonesia is the largest recorded exporter of coconuts and coconut-related products with an 24% share. The country has a total export volume of 630K MT and a total export value of USD 160.342M. Indonesia also remains the highest-producing country of coconuts in the world.
Production of coconuts is mainly conducted in the Asian and Pacific regions and is centralized in three countries: India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Asia is the main production region, with an average production share of 83.8% between 1994-2018 according to FAOSTAT. The top three producers in 2018 were Indonesia, the Philippines, and India, with 18.5M MT, 14.7M MT, and 11.7M MT, respectively. Although Thailand sits lower in the overall coconut production, its flagship product, the Thailand-exclusive Aromatic coconut makes it a unique player in the fresh coconut market.
Coconuts are categorized into mainly three types of cultivars: The tall and the dwarf cultivar, as well as the hybrid of the two. Tall varieties are best used to produce copra (the dried meat of coconuts), which is extracted to make coconut oil (CNO), while the dwarf varieties are extracted for their sweet water. Globally, tall types are more prevalent than dwarf ones, where tall types represent 90-95% of the existing coconut palm population.
Some commercially popular cultivars within the Tall variety are the Jamaica Tall and the Panama Tall with either green or bronze colors. Jamaica Tall has more angular, elongated-shaped nuts even when de-husked, while the Panama Tall is rounder and the middle layer of the nut (mesocarp) is thinner. The East Coast Tall coconut is also common in many growing regions, yielding approximately 70 coconuts annually per tree once it bears fruit 6-8 years after planting. It is also known to have high oil content. The West Coast Tall coconut bears slightly more fruit than the East Coast Tall, with about 70 coconuts per year 6-7 years after planting. The variety is also more drought-resistant than the West Coast Tall.
The United States: The US currently does not have standards specifically for the imports of coconuts. There is also currently no definition for what “damaged” coconuts would entail, and inspections are usually done based on the visual quality of the fruits.
Europe: Exporting fresh coconuts in Europe will have to meet the general requirements for fresh fruits and vegetables, which include minimizing the use of pesticides and contaminants and preventing any physical damage to the goods. Coconuts are least likely to suffer from pests due to their hard shell compared to other fruits, but excessive chemicals injected into the trees could affect the quality of coconut water.
Young coconuts are often bleached to maintain a white appearance, but the usage of any of these chemicals or antioxidants is not allowed in the EU. Like the US, there are no set regulations for fresh coconuts, but exporters should comply with the visual requirements of any other fruits, which include being free of pests, foreign smell/taste, foreign matter, etc.
For a detailed guideline on the exportation of young coconuts, please refer to the ASEAN standard here:
The main importing markets of fresh coconut are:
1) Thailand - USD $130.8M
2) Malaysia - USD $63.3M
3) USA - USD $39.7M
4) Vietnam - USD $22.2M
5) United Arab Emirates - USD $21.84M