Ghana’s timber industry is at risk of spending millions of cedis on timber imports as 75 out of 100 local timber manufacturing companies have shut down due to ongoing forest destruction caused by bushfires.
Industry experts warn that the remaining 25 companies, located in the Western North, Eastern, and Central Regions, are struggling to secure raw materials, facing potential closure.
Dr. Kwame Asamoah Adam, CEO of the Ghana Timber Millers Organisation, expressed these concerns in an interview with Accra-based Citi News.
He noted, “now, in terms of the numbers, the medium to large size companies, most of them have collapsed. So, coming from a figure of about 100 companies now, you have just about 25 that are surviving, operating, exporting, and also providing employment.”
Dr. Adam further highlighted the drastic reduction in raw materials, stating, “now, in terms of the materials that are coming in, in terms of round logs, it has reduced in quantity from about 1.2 million m³ about 20 years ago to now just around 500,000 million. The reduction in raw materials is attributed mainly to a decline in the production areas.”
