WOOD WORKERS REACT

The leadership of three workers groups in the wood industry in the Ashanti region has strongly rejected the claims by Parliament and the Judicial Service that the industry lacks the capacity to meet demands of the local market for which reason the two key state institutions had to import furniture from China.

 According to the wood and furniture workers, the spontaneous public reaction to the furniture importation is enough anchor for all to rely on the local wood and furniture industry not only to boost the industry for job creation, but also to strengthen the local currency.

 The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Furniture and Wood Products Association of Ghana, Kwasi Awuah Agyemang said this at a News Conference in Kumasi to draw the public’s attention to the current state of the industry. The wood industry comprises the Furniture and Wood Products Association of Ghana, Ghana Timber Millers Organization and the Woodworkers Association of Ghana.

 Mr. Agyemang said the claims by a section of Ghanaians that local wood products are not up to international standard due to factors like poor quality and finishing and that the industry lacks the capacity to handle large demands are not entirely true and are mere perceptions. According to the Chairman, those are just the excuses that importers of wood products use to undermine the local industry. 

Mr. Agyemang disclosed that in spite of its challenges, the local wood and furniture industry has a potential to make very significant contribution to the national economic and social development. According to him, the Furniture and Wood Products Association alone currently has 400 furniture and joinery companies and employing about 40 thousand artisans and administrative personnel. 

In addition to these, the sub-sector boasts of nearly two thousand small scale carpentry shops and providing training for many more youth in the rural and urban centres across the country. In spite of the greater potential for the local wood industry to propel the national economy, available statistics from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority confirm the increasing local demand and taste for imported furniture and wood products with China, Singapore, Brazil and the United Arabs Emirates as the major sources. 

Mr. Agyemang appealed to the government to formulate and implement deliberate policies that would promote the growth of the wood and furniture industry to compete favourably in the local market. The policies, he said, must include affordable lending rates and directive for state agencies to procure a certain percentage of their wood and furniture needs from local sources.