Ghana’s rubber coalition says local factories can effectively process only 86,400 tonnes of the country’s roughly 145,000 tonne annual output, disputing the capacity figures behind government’s ten year ban on raw exports.
That gap of nearly 60,000 tonnes now sits at the centre of the policy fight. If the Coalition of Natural Rubber Actors of Ghana (CONRAG) is right, more than a third of national production could be left without a buyer, dragging down farm gate prices. If processors are right that installed capacity stands near 178,000 tonnes, the ban simply redirects rubber that was leaving the country raw.
CONRAG, which speaks for farmers, licensed aggregators, traders, nursery operators, processors, exporters and freight forwarders, has tabled a six point Regulated Export Quota System as its alternative. The framework would keep both domestic and export channels open, tie export allocations to regulatory compliance, plantation investment and verified job creation, and shrink those allocations each year as proven local processing capacity grows. “Sustainable industrialisation cannot be achieved through restrictive market interventions alone,” the coalition stated.
The numbers dispute turns on method. Processors cite installed capacity; CONRAG counts what factories actually run, working from a 30 tonne hourly processing rate over an eight hour day, and notes that real output is squeezed by financing, maintenance, energy supply, labour and working capital. It wants policy set on independently verified operational data.
The stakes extend beyond arithmetic. The coalition warns that removing export buyers, who paid promptly and competed for crop, would hand pricing power to a small group of domestic processors already accused of delayed payments. It counts more than 6,800 direct jobs across tapping, trading, haulage, port work and freight forwarding at risk, and argues traders and aggregators recognised under the Tree Crops Development Authority Act, 2019 (Act 1010) would be pushed out of the market.
CONRAG also rejects blame for troubled outgrower loan schemes, pointing instead to loans denominated in foreign currency, exchange rate swings and weak transparency in administration. It says about 90 percent of Ghana’s rubber farmers finance themselves without subsidies or corporate support, and wants a forensic audit of the schemes. The Daily Graphic has reported that out of GH¢673.9 million disbursed under a rubber credit scheme, a substantial amount remains unrecovered, with indiscriminate exports cited as a factor, which is precisely the narrative the coalition contests.
Government and processors see it differently. Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare signed the prohibition on April 27 following a Cabinet decision under the Accelerated Export Development Programme, part of a wider plan: Ghana exports roughly 95 percent of its rubber in raw form, and President John Mahama has set a target of processing 50 to 60 percent locally. The Rubber Processors Association of Ghana backs the ban fully and warned this week that raw rubber still moving toward Tema Port under allegedly questionable documentation could render the restriction ineffective.
CONRAG says it supports the industrialisation goal but faults the process, noting that promises of wider stakeholder engagement made after talks with policymakers in October 2025 never materialised. It is asking for fresh consultations, enforcement of existing industry agreements and targeted financing for processors through Ghana EXIM Bank, so capacity catches up before the export door closes for good.
