cocoa products recorded even faster expansion,<\/a> driven by demand from Europe and other industrial markets. Cocoa butter exports rose to about $469 million following a 120.18% increase, while cocoa powder climbed to approximately $173 million after a 112.97% rise. GEPA noted that the cocoa sector as a whole achieved earnings of about $3.69 billion, describing it as a \u201chistoric milestone\u201d for the country\u2019s value-added export agenda.\n <\/p>\n\n Beyond cocoa, agricultural diversification continued to strengthen Ghana\u2019s export base. Cashew nuts generated roughly $219 million, reflecting steady expansion in the sector. The shea industry also recorded strong momentum, with shea nuts rising to about $131 million and shea oil reaching approximately $129 million, supported by growing demand from the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.\n <\/p>\n
\n Industrial and fisheries exports also contributed to the overall performance. Articles of plastics rose to about $203 million, aluminium products reached approximately $121 million, and canned tuna exports climbed to around $157 million. Collectively, manufactured and semi-processed goods accounted for more than 83% of total export earnings, signalling a clear shift towards industrial output.\n <\/p>\n
\n However, not all sectors performed strongly. Iron and steel exports declined slightly to about $233 million amid pressure from volatile global prices and intensifying international competition.\n <\/p>\n
\n GEPA attributed this divergence to external market conditions, even as broader export performance remained robust.\n <\/p>\n
Ghana’s international cash cows<\/p>\n
\n At the same time, intra-African trade continued to expand, supported by demand within the Economic Community of West African States. Regional trade now accounts for 30.36% of Ghana\u2019s non-traditional export earnings.\n <\/p>\n
\n GEPA chief executive Francis Kojo Kwarteng Arthur said the figures reflect \u201cGhana\u2019s growing competitiveness in regional markets,\u201d highlighting the importance of ongoing initiatives such as the Accelerated Export Development Programme to improve production standards and capacity.\n <\/p>\n
\n The results were unveiled during the launch of the 2025 Non-Traditional Export Statistics Report on 17 April 2026, which underscored Ghana\u2019s accelerating integration into the African Continental Free Trade Area framework.\n <\/p>\n
\n Overall, the 2025 performance points to an economy increasingly anchored in industrialisation and value addition, as Ghana positions itself as a rising manufacturing and processing hub in West Africa.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The shift away from raw material dependence is increasingly reshaping the country\u2019s trade structure and strengthening its position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-388711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}