Data from the Bank of Ghana reveals that, 36 per cent of Ghana’s total exports for the first half of 2020 were bound for China and some other the Far East countries namely; Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Exports to European countries, ECOWAS, the rest of Africa and North America were 16.1 per cent, 5.1 per cent, 10.3 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively.
The estimated value of merchandise exports for the second quarter of 2020 was however $3.4 billion, indicating a decrease of $548.42 million (13.6 percent) compared with US$4.02 billion recorded in the same period in 2019.
The decrease was attributable to declining receipts from the exports of crude oil, although other exports (other minerals and non-traditional exports) and some commodities recorded lower export receipts due to the advent of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
The value of non-traditional exports – cashew nuts, palm oil and preserved tuna – electricity and other minerals (bauxite, diamond, aluminium and manganese), amounted to $566.56 million, 16.2 per cent lower than the outturn in the second quarter of 2019.
Earnings from timber exports also declined by 27 per cent as total exports for the first half of the year amounted to $29.17 million compared to the $40.08 million recorded for the same period in 2019.
