US exports 110,000 metric tonnes of rice to Ghana in 2012

Ghana is a very big market for rice from the United States. Between January to November 2012, total US rice sales to Ghana of all varieties equalled 110,000 metric tonnes from January-November 2012, a 25 percent increase compared to the same time period in 2011 and double the 2009 import figure.

The rice in the imports is as a result of more than 10 years of promotional activities in Ghana, by the USA Rice Federation, a market it describes as ‘key’.

Ghana is the largest commercial market for US rice in West Africa. US producers maintain about a third of the Ghanaian rice market over the last several years, a US Embassy cable released by  WikiLeaks August 26, 2011 has said.

In 2009 for instance,  local rice farmers produced only 30 per cent of the country’s requirement. The remaining two-thirds, worth $500 million, was imported.

Speaking to Ghanaians resident in Ethiopia in Addis Ababa in January 2013, President John Mahama said the country is now producing 47% of the local requirements for rice. He attributed the increase to the provision of fertilizer, distribution of improved seeds, farm machineries to local rice producers.

Meanwhile available figures show that milled rice imports have dropped from 460,000 metric tonnes in 2011 to 400,000 metric tonnes in 2012.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi