Palm oil has huge export potential — Spio-Garbrah

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has described the palm oil sub-sector as one of the sleeping giants in the country that could be developed into a key foreign exchange earner and job creator.

Should the sector receive the necessary investment, Dr Spio-Garbrah said, the country could easily become a net exporter of palm oil and the proceeds would be used to help cancel out the country’s yawning balance of trade deficit.

“With an estimated total land area of 305,758 hectares cropped to oil palm in Ghana, it ranks next to cocoa in the hierarchy of economic importance in the tree crop sector. There is a burgeoning market and a huge market space for palm oil and value-added palm oil-base products in the world and specifically in our sub-region,” he said. 

Mr Spio-Garbrah said Ghana’s deficit of 35,000 tonnes in supply could hit over 100,000 tonnes in the not-too-distant future, following increase in demand, especially in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and body lotion industries. 

Speaking at the launch of the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG) in Accra, he said palm oil remained an important non-traditional export commodity with increasing prominence. 

Challenges with the sub-sector

In recognition of the chain prospects of the oil palm sector, the Ministry of Trade and Industry initiated and supported a myriad of programmes to engender plantation expansion and increased palm oil production for accelerated industrial growth. 

By the end of 2010, approximately 40,000 and 45,000 hectares had been developed under the plantation expansion programme that was then known as the Private Sector Initiative -Palm Oil. 

He, however, said the anticipated benefit had not been fully achieved, principally, due to the inefficient co-ordination of actors within the palm oil value chain and the nascent state of downstream businesses. 

“In the interim, there is need for a stakeholders’ forum to analyse and outline the teething needs of the various actors including funding options and scrutinise the growth paths of countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia and Ivory Coast to guide the oil palm value chain to impel growth,” he said.