Some local timber millers are in desperate need of raw material to feed their production lines as they grapple with a huge supply deficit of over 5 million cubic meters of timber.
The Ghana Timber Millers Organisation (GTMO) reveals the majority of its members are currently operating below half their original capacities of approximately 7 million cubic meters of timber.
They attribute their current production levels to forest destruction perpetrated by illegal miners, the expansion of agricultural activities and bush fires.
Executive Secretary of the GTMO, Dr. Kwame Asamoah Adam, explains the unabated environmental destruction continues to weaken the sector as they consider importing the raw materials.
“We are not at the optimum level yet. We have the capacity to process more but we don’t have the material and then we need to add value, for almost 100 years now the export is mainly the primary product, lumber veneer but we need to go into furniture production and other high value-added products which we aren’t doing much,” he said.
He continued that: “Bush fires have destroyed over 400,000 hectares of land that once produced timber. Areas in the northern part of the Ashanti Region and the eastern part of the Bono Ahafo Region, which previously supplied large quantities of logs, have been badly affected”.
According to Dr. Asamoah Adam, the industry used to earn over 200 million euros annually from foreign trade, while generating nearly the same amount from the local market.
This was possible due to the abundance of raw materials in the country without the need to import logs.
“With this advantage, many companies expanded their processing capacity to about 7 million cubic meters a year. Their overheads are higher because there’s high capacity which isn’t used because of the raw material,” he explained.
Although the timber merchants have considered importing from Central Africa, the means of transporting them is rather a bane to the operations as it would bring about economic burden on the companies.
“It does not make economic sense to import logs unless there is an efficient transportation system, which could allow for imports from Central Africa,” he said.
These challenges, coupled with shortage of skilled labor in the sector, are impeding the once vibrant timber market.
Dr. Asamoah Adam noted that the industry originally relied on artisans from Polytechnics, but following their upgrade to technical universities, there are fewer skilled artisans available.
He stressed the need to train more skilled workers to diversify production and increase revenue.
“When you go to the mills now, only old men are seen around training their apprentices,” he observed, calling it a big shortage of technical skills in the timber industry in Ghana, which he believes hinders further development.
Source: Josephine Sagoe