NTE earnings during the period under review (January to December 2020) were $2.846 billion, down 1.84% from the %2.899 billion recorded for the previous year.

The decline is linked to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, characterised by a decreasing trend in the performance of the processed and semi-processed products sector, particularly cocoa butter and canned tuna.

The highest contributing subsector, processed/semi-processed products, which accounted for about 83.71% of total NTEs, experienced a fall of 2.94% in 2020 over 2019 earnings.

The agricultural subsector recorded a 0.65% rise in its performance from 2019, with a 15.21% contribution to total NTEs in 2020, while industrial art and craft accounted for 1.08% of total NTEs, depicting an increase of 110.88% over the 2019 earnings.

According to the report, due to a drop in demand for cut pineapples, the overall performance of the EU and UK markets showed a negative growth of 11.57% in import value in 2020 compared to 2019.

The Netherlands emerged as the largest market in Europe for Ghana’s NTEs in 2020, recording US$383.10 million, a rise of 0.52% over 2019 earnings.

Over the past 5 years, Ghana’s non-traditional exports sector has recorded an annual average growth rate of 2.55%. The $2.846 billion recorded for 2020 accounts for 19.67% of the country’s total national merchandise exports for the year.