Wood shortage looms as 75 out of 100 local timber manufacturing companies face collapse.

Ghana is at risk of spending millions of cedis on timber imports, with 75 out of 100 local timber manufacturing companies collapsing due to ongoing forest destruction caused by bushfires.

Stakeholders in the timber industry caution that the remaining 25 companies in the Western North, parts of Eastern, and Central Regions are grappling to obtain raw materials for production, fearing imminent closure.

Dr. Kwame Asamoah Adam, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Timber Millers Organisation, voiced these concerns in an interview with Citi Business News.

“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. ”

He added “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”.