01Key Takeaways
- Ghana imported $16.39 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 8.73% from $17.96 billion in 2022.
- Mineral fuels led every import category at 32.10% ($5.26 billion), a huge bill for a country that produces its own crude oil.
- China was the top supplier at 18.74% ($3.07 billion), well ahead of any other single partner.
- Russia ranked fourth among suppliers at 6.42% ($1.05 billion), tied to Ghana's dependence on imported wheat.
024-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $10.4B | $17.8B | $18.0B | $16.4B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $3.1B | 18.7% |
| 2 | Netherlands | $1.6B | 9.6% |
| 3 | India | $1.1B | 6.4% |
| 4 | Russia | $1.1B | 6.4% |
| 5 | United States | $993.4M | 6.1% |
| 6 | Belgium | $760.0M | 4.6% |
| 7 | United Arab Emirates | $620.9M | 3.8% |
| 8 | United Kingdom | $504.8M | 3.1% |
| 9 | Switzerland | $365.9M | 2.2% |
| 10 | South Africa | $311.2M | 1.9% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $5.3B | 32.1% |
| 2 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $1.6B | 9.5% |
| 3 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $1.2B | 7.4% |
| 4 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $660.5M | 4.0% |
| 5 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $601.2M | 3.7% |
| 6 | Iron and Steel | $527.5M | 3.2% |
| 7 | Miscellaneous Chemical Products | $468.3M | 2.9% |
| 8 | Salt; Sulphur; Earths and Stone; Plastering Materials, Lime and Cement | $439.5M | 2.7% |
| 9 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $364.2M | 2.2% |
| 10 | Products of the Milling Industry; Malt; Starches; Inulin; Wheat Gluten | $311.9M | 1.9% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
An Oil Producer With a Massive Fuel Import Bill
Ghana imported $16.39 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 8.73% from $17.96 billion the year before. Mineral fuels led every category by a wide margin, worth $5.26 billion, or 32.10% of the total, a striking figure for a country that pumps its own crude oil from the offshore Jubilee field. Ghana's sole refinery, in Tema, was built decades ago to process a different grade of crude than the high-quality light oil the country's newer offshore fields actually produce, and upgrading it to handle domestic crude has repeatedly proven too costly to carry out. That mismatch forces Ghana to export much of its own crude while separately importing refined fuel to meet domestic demand, the same paradox that shows up in several other oil-producing countries covered on this site.
Nuclear reactors, boilers, and machinery followed at 9.47% ($1.55 billion), and vehicles took third at 7.39% ($1.21 billion). Plastics contributed 4.03% ($660.52 million), and electrical machinery added 3.67% ($601.17 million). Iron and steel took 3.22% ($527.51 million), and chemical products contributed 2.86% ($468.32 million).
Salt, sulphur, and stone added 2.68% ($439.49 million), and iron or steel articles contributed 2.22% ($364.24 million). Products of the milling industry, including wheat flour and malt, closed out the top ten at 1.90% ($311.91 million), a category tied directly to Ghana's reliance on imported grain. Outside mineral fuels, no single category reaches even 10% of the total.
China Leads, but Russia's Presence Reflects a Regional Food Pattern
China was Ghana's largest supplier in 2023 at 18.74% ($3.07 billion), well ahead of any other single partner. Netherlands followed at 9.60% ($1.57 billion), and India took 6.45% ($1.06 billion), rounding out a top three that made up 34.79% of total import value.
Russia ranked fourth at 6.42% ($1.05 billion), a notable presence for a country roughly 5,000 miles away with no obvious trade advantage besides the goods themselves. Russia has been expanding wheat exports to West Africa in recent years, with Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone all among the region's buyers, and analysts describing Ghana specifically as a market with sufficient capacity and appetite for competitively priced Russian wheat. Ghana's own milling-industry import category, covering wheat flour and related products, reflects that same regional dependence on imported grain, whichever specific supplier it happens to come from in a given year. United States added 6.06% ($993.41 million), and Belgium contributed 4.64% ($759.99 million). The United Arab Emirates took 3.79% ($620.87 million), the United Kingdom added 3.08% ($504.75 million), Switzerland contributed 2.23% ($365.89 million), and South Africa closed out the top ten at 1.90% ($311.20 million).
A Pullback After Ghana's Highest Confirmed Import Year
Confirmed data for Ghana's import total is available for 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, with 2020 missing from this dataset. Import value stood at $10.44 billion in 2019, then jumped to $17.85 billion in 2021. It climbed further to a record $17.96 billion in 2022, a level shaped partly by the same elevated global energy prices that pushed up fuel bills across much of the world that year.
The 2023 total of $16.39 billion, down 8.73% from that peak, still sits well above the confirmed 2019 level. Mineral fuels are worth nearly a third of Ghana's import total. Ghana's own crude output cannot meaningfully reduce that bill given the refinery mismatch described above. The country's import figures are likely to keep tracking global oil and fuel prices closely, regardless of how much crude Ghana itself pulls out of the ground each year.