Ghana earns $21.9m from $1bn coconut export market
Export of desiccated coconut by Ghana for the year 2021 amounted to $21.9m.
Compared to the $6.3m earned from exports in the previous year – 2020 – the $21.9m export earnings marks a 249% jump in export value.
From 2017 to 2021, growth in export earnings from desiccated coconut averaged 45%.
The new export earnings ranked Ghana 9th in global exports of desiccated coconut.
Despite the huge jump in export earnings, the $21.9m export earnings in 2021, represents a meagre portion of the $1bn export market value of desiccated coconut.
Global exports of desiccated coconut was over $1 billion, recording an annual growth rate of 52% in 2021, and an average growth rate of 7% from 2017-2021.
Top five global exporters of desiccated coconut were Philippines ($397m), Indonesia ($235m), Sri Lanka ($116m), Netherlands ($69m) and Viet Nam ($59m).
Meanwhile, Dominican Republic was the biggest market for Ghana’s export of desiccated coconut in 2021 with a market share of 79%.
Dominican Republic imported $29.31 million worth of desiccated coconut from the world in 2021.
Its top suppliers were Ghana (59.2%), Guyana (32.6%), Cote d’Ivoire (4.6%), Indonesia (1.5%), and Viet Nam (0.9%).
Dominican Republic’s imports of desiccated coconut from Ghana represents 59.2% of the total desiccated coconut imported by Dominican Republic from the world.
GEPA said Ghana’s impressive growth and dominant position in the Dominican market should be augmented and used as a platform to launch into other markets in the Caribbean.
“With the current intervention by actors in the country with particular emphasis on GEPA’s supply expansion programs, export of coconut and coconut derivatives is expected to rise considerably
“Guyana is Ghana’s biggest competitor in the Dominican Republic market”, it explained.
Guyana had 32.6% of its desiccated coconut exports to the Dominican market.
Cote d’Ivoire exported $1.35 million worth of desiccated coconut to the Dominican market.
Its market destinations included Dominican Republic (45%), Senegal (14.8%), Niger (12.7%) and Israel (8.9%).
Philippines, the largest global exporter of desiccated coconut had its exports valued at $397million in 2021. Its top three importers were the United States of America (30.4%), Netherlands (16.6%) and Canada (6.1%).