BY : DARI KWABENA MATHEW (+233555395925)
There is a growing demand in India for Ghana’s shea.
Ghana’s shea and coconut oil are on track to become as valuable as its cashew-nut export to India.
In 2018, Ghana had a total of $90 million worth of shea butter.
According to the Ghana-India Trade Advisory Chamber (GITAC), India’s interest in Ghana’s shea and coconut oil is growing due to rising market demand for both goods.
MarketsHigh expectations for Dangote Sinotruck as the company boasts a production capacity of 10,000 units per year.
The GITAC was established in 2018 and was the first business chamber between Ghana and India to establish numerous babes across the globe, 18 to be precise, making trade between both countries seamless wherever they find themselves in the world.
During the 5th-anniversary media launch of GITAC, the president of the group, Dominic Oduro Antwi noted that Ghana’s shea and coconut oil exports to India are slowly gaining on its cashew exports which have been India’s most imported product from the west African nation. 80% of India’s cashew are imported from Ghana.
“This is not surprising to the chamber as Ghana has the best quality of shea in Africa, it is only right that Indian
Traders would want to acquire the commodity from here,” Dominic said.
“This is the first time for Ghanaian SMEs to focus attention on shea exports to India and make the most of it. Importantly, GITAC is collaborating with manufacturers to design coconut oil extractors for the local industry here and to also deepen medical tourism between the two countries,” he added.
On The Times of India, India’s largest digital products company, shea products are being advertised with messaging stating that the shea’s high quality is based on the fact that it is from Ghana.
This is a significant opportunity for Ghana, as the worldwide shea butter market is predicted to reach $2.9 billion by 2025. In 2018, Ghana had a total of $90 million worth of shea butter, which is expected to increase significantly based on the growing demand.
Ghana currently stands as the fifth-largest producer of shea butter in the world. Even more impressive than that, data from Global Shea Alliance (GSA), shows that Ghana is the single largest exporter of unrefined shea in the world.
The alliance also revealed that Ghana has the most developed shea processing sector in Africa, with an estimated 94 million shea trees in the country, producing 60,000 tonnes of shea nuts per year.
