The Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) has reported a sharp drop in trading activity for 2023, with the total trade value plummeting to GH₵11.3 million, a 45% decrease from GH₵20.7 million in 2022. This reduction, highlighted in the 2023 Financial Stability Review, underscores the economic and environmental challenges impacting Ghana’s agricultural sector.
GCX’s trading portfolio, which includes commodities like maize, soybeans, sorghum, sesame, rice, and cashews, faced significant headwinds from macroeconomic instability and adverse climate conditions, both of which affected pricing and market performance.
Contracts traded on GCX also saw a notable decline, with only 2,206 contracts executed in 2023—a 36% drop compared to the previous year. Trading volumes similarly fell from 5,585.26 metric tonnes in 2022 to 2,488.17 metric tonnes in 2023.
Despite the overall decline, maize remained resilient, accounting for 93% of the total trade volume and even showing a 22% increase in transactions, bucking the general trend. The GCX Graded Commodity Index (GCX-GCI), which tracks the prices of graded maize and soybeans across eight delivery centers, displayed stability with a 7.14% yield by the end of the year.
Supporting initiatives like the Commodity Aggregation Development Fund (CADeF) and the GCX Aggregation Support Scheme (GASS) have played a key role in maintaining market liquidity. These programs provide crucial funding to commodity aggregators, enabling direct purchases from smallholder farmers, which helps sustain market activity in challenging times.
