5 basic household items that are imported into Ghana

For any average Ghanaian home, there is a constant demand to purchase items (mostly foodstuff) almost every two weeks to be able to manage the needs of occupants, who sometimes number between three to five per household.

While Ghana still struggles to undertake large domestic production of goods and products for export purposes, it is no secret that the country is still heavily dependent on imports, even after 66 years of independence.

The importation trend has heavily impacted the cost of living in the country, as prices of goods and services continue to surge across all sectors, along with taxes imposed by the government.

Most recently, Ghana’s major ports were said to have been recording a decline in activities owing to high duty taxes, and operational costs, among others.

GhanaWeb Business takes a look at five basic household items that you did not know were imported into the country.

Matches sticks

For most households that rely on gas cooking stoves, the use of match sticks comes in handy. The most notable is the Three-Legged Pot Safety Matches, which are produced and imported from Sweden into Ghana.

The match sticks box is also a trademark filed and owned by the Swedish Match Industries named Aktiebolag.



Rice

Despite Ghana having vast hectares of land for the cultivation of rice, the country still heavily imports rice from Pakistan, Korea, India, Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam and the United States of America.

Although governments have launched campaigns geared toward the patronization of locally-produced rice, this common staple food still enjoys widespread importation from foreign countries.

Bic Pen

The use of pens for writing or documentation purposes is common among most Ghanaian households, but it will surprise most to know that the widely known ‘Bic Pen’ is imported into the country from France.

In 2006, the Bic Pen was one of the world’s top-selling pens, with over 100 billion sold worldwide, at the rate of about 57 every second, according to designwanted.com.



Fire Extinguisher

One of the most important items needed for most households is the fire extinguisher, which can help combat an unfortunate event of fire outbreaks.

Checks by GhanaWeb Business showed that Ghana imports most of its Co2 fire extinguishers and spray guns are from India, China and Netherlands.



Toilet paper

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), which is a data visualization site for international trade data, Ghana imported $42.1 million worth of toilet paper in 2021, making it the 87th largest importer in the world.

Within that same year, data from OEC said toilet paper was the 106th most item imported in Ghana. Ghana mostly imports toilet paper from China ($33.4 million), Egypt ($2.1 million), Turkey ($2.02 million), Italy ($1.37 million) and Belgium ($532,000).

With additional files from Trading Economics and OEC

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