Ghana is a net importer of fish and seafood products. In 2022, the country imported approximately US$145million worth of seafood – down 13 percent from the US$164million in 2021.
The top-three seafood-supplying countries to Ghana in 2022 were Mauritania (US$37.2million), followed by China (US$18.2million) and Morocco (US$16.6million).
Faroe Islands, Spain, Norway, South Korea, Netherlands, Angola and Singapore in that order form the other top-ten seafood supplying countries into Ghana.
The United States was the 13th-largest supplier of seafood to Ghana with a value of US$4.2million, up 42 percent compared to 2021’s value of US$2.9million.
Seafood is an important staple in Ghanaian cuisine, as it accounts for 60 percent of animal protein intake with an estimated per capita consumption rate of 26 kilogrammes – one of the highest rates of dependence on fish for nutrition on the continent in terms of per capita consumption.
U.S. seafood sales to Ghana recently experienced a boost, but recent announcements of increasing the tax by 1,573 percent per metric tonne on frozen seafood could drastically change that trajectory.
Government is expected to increase import taxes on frozen seafood by 1,573 percent, from the current GH¢15 to about GH¢251 per metric tonne, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has indicated.
According to the USDA, the tax will be paid in US dollars – to supplement short supply of the greenback in the system.
Although the USDA posits that the tax hike could cut imports and cause fish supplies to reduce on the local market, this Paper supports the hike in view of the fact that the GH₵15 per tonne previously charged on imported frozen fish products was a give-a-way for fish importers to flood the local market with imported fish, thereby undermining the local industry.
The local industry must be protected, and while at it there is nothing wrong with raking-in a few more dollars in the process to shore-up foreign reserves. Therefore, in principle the tax slapped on imported frozen fish products is in the national interest whichever way it is viewed.
Ghana’s seafood market still presents an excellent opportunity for U.S. suppliers to take advantage of, and the percentage increase in tax rate cannot deter them – since in relative terms it is still insignificant when the cedi conversion to dollars is done.
