The Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) has called for a fundamental transformation in the way shea is traded in Ghana to ensure that the country and the communities that sustain the industry derive greater value from the commodity.
The Exchange said a structured and transparent domestic market would help improve price discovery, strengthen access to finance and create opportunities for greater value addition to shea.
Speaking at the World Shea Expo 2026 in Tamale, on the theme: ‘From Local Commodity to Global Brand: Accelerating Women and Youth-Led Value Addition in Shea,’ the Chief Executive Officer of the GCX, Ms Evelyn Abakah, said Ghana was at a critical point in the development of its shea industry.
She said although shea had supported families across northern Ghana for generations, the country continued to lose significant economic value because a large proportion of the commodity was exported in its raw form.
According to Ms Abakah, about two-thirds of Ghana’s shea was exported unprocessed, meaning that opportunities in higher-value products, including cosmetics and food products, were largely being captured outside the country.
“Ghana can capture a much larger share, but only with a market structure strong enough to support that ambition. That is exactly the gap the Ghana Commodity Exchange was built to close,” she said.
Ms Abakah said the GCX had demonstrated its ability to bring order, transparency and trust to commodity trading, having facilitated the trade of about 80,000 metric tonnes of commodities over the past five years.
The commodities, including maize, rice, soybean and cashew, were valued at more than GH¢400 million.
She further disclosed that the Exchange, in collaboration with financial institutions, had helped more than 500 farmers secure financing using their stored commodities as collateral, with no loan defaults recorded.
“When a commodity has verified quality, a known location and a transparent price, it stops being just a crop; it becomes an asset,” she stated.
Ms Abakah said similar principles could be applied to the shea sector to establish a market where quality was verified, prices were transparent and transactions conducted with greater certainty.
She revealed that the GCX, in collaboration with development partners, including USAID and UNDP, had been working on quality parameters and grading standards for shea, which were validated through stakeholder engagement in Tamale in 2024.
The CEO said the Exchange was seeking a partial mandate from the government for domestic shea trading to be conducted through the GCX.
The CEO of GCX stressed that the proposal was not intended to disrupt the existing shea industry but to provide the market infrastructure needed to support its next phase of growth.
She said a structured domestic market would give farmers, pickers, aggregators and processors greater visibility on prevailing prices while providing a stronger foundation for investment and value addition.
Ms Abakah also called for women, who dominate shea collection and processing at the community level, to be placed at the centre of the sector’s transformation.
She said they deserved a greater share of the value generated from the commodity, adding that Ghana’s transition from raw commodity exports to value-added production could make shea a major example of the benefits of structured commodity trading.
BY GORDON WELLU
