National overview OVERVIEW OF FISH MARKETING IN GHANA AND IN WESTERN REGION

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II. OVERVIEW OF FISH MARKETING IN GHANA AND IN WESTERN REGION

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2.1 National overview

Fish is extremely important in the Ghanaian diet, accounting for 40-60 of animal protein supply. Fish is widely consumed throughout the country – as a fresh product near the landing sites and as smoked and dried fish in more distant markets. FAO data indicate an overall food fish balance of almost 680,000 tonnes or nearly 30kg per capita – see Figure 2 4 . A new study, however, suggests that freshwater fish landings from Lake Volta may be much higher than previously thought, indicating that average per capita fish consumption may exceed 40kg per annum FAO and WorldFish Center, 2008. The marketing systems, although largely based on traditional products, are relatively well-developed and extend into neighbouring countries. The domestic market is, however, the most important market for Ghanaian fish production. Figure 2, which is based on FAO data, shows that an increasing share of the market is met from imports. “Net imports” refers to imports less exports. 3 Section 2 draws on preliminary work conducted in 2010 Finegold et al., 2010 as well as desk-based research on the Ghanaian domestic market for fish undertaken during 2011. 4 FAO data on apparent consumption are derived from: production capture fisheries and aquaculture plus imports less exports plusminus any change in stocks. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 kg c ap it a Th o u sa n d T o nne s Figure 2: Apparent consumption of food fish in Ghana, by source, 1990‐2007. Aquaculture Production Capture Production Net Imports Per capita consumption 12 FAO statistics indicate that Ghana is a net importer of fish by value and volume see Table 3 and Figure 3. Exports in 2007 were worth about 61 million whilst imports were valued at 171 million, whilst import volume exceeded export volume by a factor of 14. Although some of the informal regional trade may be under-reported, it is very clear that Ghana’s dependence on imports has increased dramatically over the last 20 years. In addition, the official data may give little clue to the movement of fish caught by the international fleet. Much of its catch is not landed in Ghana and there are also controversies concerning Illegal Unreported Unregulated IUU fishing. Table 3: Ghana food fish trade volumes and values, 1990‐2007 Imported fish is mostly low value frozen pelagic blocks. Ghana is the world’s 3 rd largest importer by volume of such food fish. These fish are imported from all over the world, including Latin America and Namibia. Information on the destination of official exports is hard to obtain. FAO indicate that important markets are European Union, Japan, USA, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as neighbouring countries 5 . 5 http:www.fao.orgfisherycountrysectorFI-CP_GHen 1990 Annual Growth Rate 1990 ‐2000 2000 Annual Growth Rate 2000 ‐2007 2007 Import Volume Tonnes 22,698 22.29 169,753 11.47 362,974 Import Value 000 11,000 22.38 83,640 10.74 170,770 Import Unit Value kg 0.49 0.08 0.49 ‐0.66 0.47 Export Volume Tonnes 25,413 7.96 54,681 ‐10.19 25,772 Export Value 000 21,591 13.77 78,464 ‐3.53 60,999 Export Unit Value kg 0.85 5.38 1.43 7.41 2.37 13

2.2 Important markets for marine fish sourced in Western Region