Ghana Export Promotion Authority to step up campaign for Ghanaian chocolates.
Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) plans to increase promotion of Ghanaian chocolates in order to capitalize on the industry's untapped potential.
Chocolates and the entire processed cocoa value chain have been identified as one of GEPA's priority products in the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS).
GEPA's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, stated that the main goal was to transform Ghana's traditional raw commodities-based economy into a competitive export-led industrialized economy with a strong manufacturing base.
To that end, GEPA is diligently collaborating with domestic chocolate-making and exporting companies in Ghana, including both artisanal and large exporting firms.
Dr. Asare was promoting Ghana's growing chocolate industry at the prestigious Wines of South Africa Road Show Tasting events.
She stated that GEPA saw the collaboration with the wine tasting event organizers as strategic because it provided a good platform to promote the country's premium chocolates, which compare favorably with those from traditional chocolate producing countries in the West.
As a result, GEPA has encouraged the industry to participate in various roadshow events in Lagos and Accra on July 14th and 16th, 2022.
To maximize these efforts, GEPA is also preparing for the industry's participation in the main event in South Africa later this year, as well as the 2022 Salon du Chocolat fair in Paris.
GEPA organized and supported the industry's participation in the Salon du Chocolat in Paris in 2021. GEPA organized a trade and investment fair in Paris on the sidelines of the fair to further promote our chocolate industry to investors.
"And we thought that another way to grow this industry is to combine it with what South Africa has, especially given our vision for Africa continental free trade agreements." "We thought we should trade amongst ourselves," Dr. Asare explained.
Ghana’s Cocoa is widely accepted as a very premium product in the global cocoa value chain industry, supplying roughly, a quarter of the world’s cocoa beans, a critical input in the nearly $140 billion global chocolate industry.
However, Ghana gets little from the chocolate billions because of its low capacity to process cocoa into chocolates and other higher-value cocoa products.
In a bid to bridge this gap, the government plans to spend roughly $200 million on improving Ghana’s cocoa processing capabilities shortly.
The country’s Non-Traditional Exports earnings increased from $2.847 billion in 2020 to $3.33 billion in 2021, representing a 17 per cent jump due to the high performance of cocoa butter, natural rubber sheets, cocoa powder, refined palm olein, and aluminium plates, sheets and coils.
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