Accra: Momentum is building at the Ghana Commodities Exchange (GCX), which has already surpassed its entire 2025 trading volume within the first quarter of 2026, according to its Chief Executive Officer, Evelyn Abakah.
According to Ghana Web, in an exclusive interview with Business and Financial Times in Accra, Abakah revealed that the exchange had traded 2,130 metric tonnes of commodities from January to March 2026, surpassing the 1,700 metric tonnes recorded for the whole of last year. However, she warned that the absence of a mandatory trading policy continues to undermine efforts to protect farmers from exploitation amid the grain glut and lift them out of poverty.
Despite the government allocating significant funds for the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to stabilize prices and prevent post-harvest losses, Abakah stated that NAFCO operations are being conducted without the benefit of the exchange's price discovery mechanism, warehousing facilities, and mandatory grading for aflatoxin contamination. "We initially worked with NAFCO-helping dry and bag the grains, but that work has halted. Now we are waiting for the next contract to continue," she said.
Abakah urged the government to mandate that all NAFCO operations be channeled through the commodity exchange platform to boost activity, ensure access to quality grading, prevent aflatoxin contamination, and promote fair pricing. "I expected there would have been a policy that mandates certain commodities be traded on the platform. But as it stands, there's nothing like that," she noted.
Abakah stressed that the absence of a mandatory trading framework is having severe consequences on the very farmers the government seeks to protect. Recounting a recent visit to Tamale, Abakah narrated an encounter with a farmer who expressed frustration over middlewomen purchasing grains at unreasonably low prices. Abakah noted that farmers would benefit from transparent pricing if their produce were traded through the GCX. She explained that mandating the trade of export-destined commodities through the exchange would ensure traceability, accurate revenue collection, and proper forex tracking while guaranteeing farmers receive fair prices.
Abakah disclosed she is in talks with the Tree Crops Development Authority to finalize an MoU for trading tree crops, including cashew and mango, on the platform. She outlined operational improvements, such as a USSD platform, allowing farmers to check commodity prices and availability of buyers from remote areas. Additionally, the exchange has partnered with World Vision to train farmer groups in post-harvest handling techniques.
Abakah highlighted regulatory misalignments and storage limitations as obstacles preventing Ghana from turning domestic gluts into export opportunities, raising concerns about its readiness for the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement. She disclosed plans for a memorandum of understanding to facilitate rice trade between Nigeria and Ghana.
Looking ahead, Abakah aims to secure a policy mandating the trading of key commodities on the exchange and is exploring expansion into non-traditional commodities, such as metals and oil, and eventually trading perishable goods like tomatoes and pepper. However, she acknowledged current cold storage capacity remains inadequate.