Goods manufactured locally are struggling to make it to the shelves of leading supermarkets in Accra, research conducted Konfidants, an international business advisory firm, has shown.
The research, which surveyed eight of the leading supermarkets in Accra on 23 product categories, showed that only 18 percent of all the goods sold by these supermarket chains were Made in Ghana.
Despite a proliferation of a number of huge multinational supermarkets especially in the last decade, the findings of this research seem to confirm that this invasion is yet to translate into a boom for local manufacturers.
The findings made by Konfidants provides justification for Citi Business Festival’s This is Ghana exhibition and fair, held on June 29, 2019, which sought to give local manufacturers an opportunity to leverage on the leading media house’s platforms to reach new markets.
The fair brought together about 70 local manufacturers in the sectors of agribusiness, fashion, beauty and cosmetics, food and beverages, education, among others.
The survey
The survey was conducted between April and May 2019 at Shoprite, Game all at Accra Mall, Palace Supermarket (Palace Mall), Koala (Osu), Maxmart (37), CityDia (La), Melcom (North Kaneshie) and Marina Mall Supermarket (Airport).
In all, a total number of 7,462 brands were counted across all the eight supermarkets included in the survey. Out of this number, 6,108 representing 82 percent were foreign brands, with only 1,354, that is, 18 percent is made in Ghana brands.
Despite the recent push for the consumption of local rice, the research found that only 6 percent of the rice sold in these supermarkets were actually produced in Ghana. The cosmetics/beauty products manufactured locally were also poorly represented (6 percent) on the shelves.
Commenting on some of the key findings of the research, Konfidants stated:
“We found several instances where products bearing indigenous Ghanaian brand names (and therefore having “Ghanaian identity”) are actually imported goods produced by foreign manufacturers for local distributors (examples being cooking oils and tomato pastes). One could easily mistake these for Made in Ghana.”
Conversely, there were also products that – although bearing Made-in-Ghana tag – are at best described as “imported and assembled/packaged” in Ghana.
Most of the Sugar & Salt sold in the supermarkets fall in this category. Even though they have very little local value addition, these products are nonetheless legitimately counted as MIG.
On the issue of pricing, the research found that goods manufactured here were generally cheaper than their imported counterparts.
Way forward
According to the research, for government’s efforts at promoting Made-In-Ghana to succeed, the campaign ought to be targeted especially at products where the country has a comparative advantage and local producers have demonstrated capabilities and potential.
Managing Partner of Konfidants, Michael Kottoh, noted that supermarkets are emerging as the preferred retail channel for the growing middle class, hence their critical role in promoting Made-In-Ghana goods.
“One way to improve local content is to promote targets for increasing the share of Made-in-Ghana in the supermarkets for selected products. This can be done progressively over time through innovative approaches that must be a win-win for both supermarkets and local producers,” he said.
Mr. Kottoh stated that setting targets for increasing MIG in the supermarkets is important as globally, there is a fierce battle for scarce supermarket shelf-space by manufacturers and suppliers who sometimes pay controversial “slotting fees” in order to have their brands displayed.
He argued that even if local producers are competitive, increasing the share of MIG goods in supermarkets in Ghana is not bound to happen as there are larger global supply chain forces at work that can sometimes make it difficult for supermarkets to commit more shelf space for local produce even when they genuinely wish to.
“Ultimately, local producers will need targeted support from government, regulators like the Ghana Standards Authority and the Food and Drugs Authority; as well as help from the supermarkets (and banks) to support local producers to continuously improve their competitiveness (in quality, standards, pricing and packaging) as well as capacity to bulk supply with consistency and meet steep supplier credit and wholesale pricing expectations of the supermarkets,” Mr. Kottoh added.
CBN
