Takoradi Feb. 15 GNA - Ghana earned 170,487,364 euro from the export of 455,180 cubic metres of woods between January and December last year.

Mr Robert Benjamin Wilson, Assistant Public Relations Manager of the Timber Industry Development Division of the Forestry Commission, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Takoradi on Tuesday.

He said in 2003, the country earned 162,992,783 euro from the export of 444,388 cubic metres of wood products.

Mr Wilson said "the 2004 performance, therefore, registered an increase of 4.60 percent and 2.43 percent in value and volume respectively over that of the previous year".

He said Europe, notably countries within the European Union, continued to be Ghana's major trading bloc in wood products and accounted for 53 percent and 56 percent in volume and value respectively of Ghana's wood products especially sawn timber and furniture parts in 2004.

Mr Wilson said "The United States of America was steadily registering a strong presence as an emerging importer of Ghana's wood products especially plywood and rotary veneer".

"The United States contributed 12.36 percent and 16.46 percent to the total value and volume respectively of the 2004 wood exports", he added.

Mr Wilson said wood products exports to the ECOWAS both in volume and value continue to lag behind those of the other trading blocs. He said the sub-region imported 46,919 cubic metres of wood products worth 11,393,934 euro, representing 6.68 percent of total value for 2004.

Mr Wilson said Senegal, Nigeria, Gambia and Sierra Leone were the main markets for the country's plywood and sawn timber.

He said among the 18 wood products that Ghana exported in 2004, secondary wood products fetched the highest earning of 143,048,792 euro or 83.91 percent of the total export earning.

Mr Wilson said, "Wawa continued to show resilience as the most dominant and most exportable, leading a pack of 52 species, which Ghana processed for export.

He said emphasis had been placed on plantation timber species such as Cedrela, Gmelina and Rose Wood or Kpatro for processing to supplement timber from natural forests.