by Justice Lee Adoboe
ACCRA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- A section of Ghanaians who spoke to Xinhua have expressed eagerness to see an enabling environment for Ghanaian businesses to become globally competitive amid the Chinese government's zero-tariff trade offer to 53 African countries.
Pearl Naheema Hanson, Ghanaian female industrialist, said in an interview on the sidelines of the recently held Ghana-China Zero-Tariff Forum 2026 in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, that the zero-tariff policy is a wonderful opportunity, especially for exporters looking to enter the Chinese market.
Hanson, whose company, AA Food and Beverages Limited, produces handcrafted butterscotch-flavored liqueur, pointed out that the offer would allow many Ghanaians and African manufacturers and traders to produce at scale, meet required global standards, and master the rudiments of exporting, especially to China.
"It is a win-win situation, benefiting both Chinese and Ghanaian exporters. In the end, the numbers that we're talking about are huge. So, the capacity is a lot, and it's not something that one company alone can do," she said.
The industrialist added that there is a need for companies to team up and build synergies to take advantage of the zero-tariff offer since the demand in China is so large that small exporters and manufacturers might not be able to meet the high demands if they operate individually.
"You need to get a group of like-minded people who realize the opportunities in the zero-tariff offer; then they can take advantage of all that it offers," Hanson stressed.
But for that to succeed, she said the government needs to create the enabling environment for Ghanaian businesses to become competitive in the global marketplace, particularly by taking steps to reduce the cost of doing business and ensure that Ghanaian businesses produce at competitive prices with global standards.
"We need some incentives, tax rebates here and there, so that we're actually able to offer competitive pricing," Hanson stated. "The cost of production in Ghana is very high, which results in our overall product costs being expensive."
Jabir Mohammed, Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, noted that although the zero-tariff policy is an agreement between the Chinese government and the various African governments, the direct operators are private sector players, and the government must ensure that these private sector players are well-educated about the requirements for accessing the Chinese market.
"Let's move into action: The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, and other relevant agencies must come together to ensure that we work in a network to take advantage of the policy," Mohammed urged.
He called on the state agencies to carry out a study of the Chinese market, identifying the standards, the competition, the products, and non-tariff barriers that Ghanaian exporters have to deal with, and compile these into easy-to-understand manuals for exporter education.
Moreover, Mohammed also stressed that Ghanaian businesses must also form partnerships among themselves, because working as single entities would put them at a disadvantage in their negotiations.
He also urged the Ghana Export-Import Bank to identify prospective businesses that need financing and support them in building capacity to bring their production to scale and be able to meet the demands from the Chinese market.
The Ghana-China Zero-Tariff Forum 2026 was organized by the Africa-China Center for Policy and Advisory and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and Sylvia Sinkari, a consultant with CEIBS Africa, urged Ghanaian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to use the opportunity offered by the zero-tariff policy as a turning point to break away from their slow response to such bilateral partnerships.
With the offer from China, Sinkari said Ghana must begin to move away from the export of raw materials to value addition.
"The policy is actually targeted at exports, and we need to begin to increase our niche manufacturing industry and move away from primary product exports to at least some level of value addition or light production before we move these exports out," she added.
