Value of top 10 non-traditional exports rise by 15% to $316M in second quarter of 2021

Data from the Bank of Ghana has revealed that the top 10 non-traditional commodities exported during the second quarter of 2021 saw a 15 percent increase in value.

According to the Bank of Ghana’s second quarterly bulletin, the change in the value amounts to US$316.53 million, compared to US$273.44 million recorded for the same period in 2020.

Among the ten top non-traditional items exported in the review period were cashew nuts, prepared or preserved tuna, palm oil and its fractions, aluminium, among others.

Cashew nuts, which topped the list, accounted for US$116.17 million, representing 36.70 percent of the total exported non-traditional export products.

Palm oil and its fractions and prepared or preserved tuna recorded US$46.18 million and $US25.65 million respectively. This represented 14.59 percent and 8.10 percent respectively of the non-traditional exports market.

Aluminium saw a whopping 144 percent increase, moving from US$9.46 million in the second quarter of last year to US$23.14 million for the same period this year.

Meanwhile, the value of merchandise exports for quarter two of this year was provisionally estimated at US$3,641.28 million, indicating an increase of US$125.31 million or 3.6 percent, compared with US$3,505.97 million recorded in the same period in 2020.

The rise was attributable to increasing receipts from the exports of cocoa beans, crude oil, timber, as well as other exports (other minerals and non-traditional exports).

On the other hand, the total value of merchandise imports for the period under review amounted to US$3,426.39 million, up by 2.3 percent compared to US$3,349.56 million recorded last year. The rise was driven by increased demand for oil imports.