Ghana loses over GH₵300m monthly to smuggling
By Nii Trebi Hammond
The country is losing more than GHS300 million every month through the smuggling of sugar, rice and other essential commodities, a growing menace that is crippling local industries, draining government revenue and threatening thousands of jobs.
The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG) has sounded an urgent warning over what it calls a worsening national crisis that demands immediate government intervention.
FABAG President, Mr John Awuni, revealed that while Ghana officially imports around 660 containers of sugar monthly, an astonishing 2,200 containers are being brought in through Togo.
“This figure represents a jump from the 2,000 containers per year that used to come through Togo,” he stated, describing the development as a clear sign of escalating smuggling activities.
According to Mr Awuni, the illicit trade is distorting markets and depriving the state of vital tax revenue. He said the unmonitored inflow of goods through unapproved routes has created a parallel market that undermines legitimate importers and manufacturers, who are already burdened with high operational costs and complex port procedures.
FABAG estimates that unregulated smuggling is costing Ghana hundreds of millions of cedis each week. The situation threatens national economic stability, erodes investor confidence and weakens the competitiveness of local businesses.
“The situation is a double tragedy. Legitimate businesses grapple with heavy taxes and complex import systems, while smugglers freely flood the market with untaxed and often substandard products,” the association lamented.
Among the most affected commodities are rice, cooking oil, sugar, alcoholic beverages and textiles, many of which enter the country through both official and unofficial border points. The availability of these untaxed goods on the market makes it increasingly difficult for compliant businesses to compete, while the state loses revenue needed for development.
FABAG is calling on the government to step up enforcement at the borders, deploy advanced surveillance technology and engage border communities in intelligence gathering.
The association has appealed directly to the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and National Security agencies to collaborate more effectively in addressing the crisis.
With the Ministry of Finance currently preparing the 2026 national budget, FABAG is also urging a review of Ghana’s import tax structure. The association maintains that high import duties and bureaucratic clearance procedures are among the main factors fuelling smuggling.
According to FABAG, the issue transcends economics; it is a matter of national security and survival. The group insists that urgent reforms are needed to protect Ghana’s borders, strengthen local industries and secure the future of legitimate businesses.
The smuggling challenge extends beyond the food and beverage sector. Ghana’s cocoa industry, which contributes about 15 per cent of the nation’s GDP, has also been hit. Between 2023 and 2024, more than 160,000 tonnes of cocoa beans, worth approximately £1.28 billion, were smuggled out of the country to Côte d’Ivoire and Togo.
The surge was largely driven by higher prices across the borders and delayed payments to farmers in Ghana.
In a bid to address the issue, the Ghana Cocoa Board set up an anti-smuggling task force in September 2024. Supported by the military, the unit intercepted 1,400 bags of cocoa and made more than 20 arrests.
President John Mahama has since proposed new legislation to criminalise the clearing of cocoa farms for mining, describing the practice as a threat to national productivity.
Efforts to strengthen border management have also received international backing. The European Union-funded Strengthening Border Security in Ghana (SBS Ghana) project, implemented with the Ghana Immigration Service until December 2024, sought to modernise border systems and improve monitoring while maintaining respect for human rights.
