Ghana’s removal of the 20% excise duty on locally manufactured fruit juice is expected to ease one of the tax costs facing local processors, with the potential to support higher production and, in turn, create more demand for locally grown fruit.
The excise duty, introduced in 2023, was a tax charged on locally manufactured fruit juice, meaning its removal gives manufacturers more room in their production economics as they consider pricing, investment and expansion.
The impact, however, could extend beyond the factories themselves if local processors are able to increase their use of Ghanaian fruit.
Ghana already produces a wide range of fruits, but a significant amount is lost before it reaches consumers or processing facilities. Estimates put post-harvest losses for fruits and vegetables at between 30% and 50%, with losses occurring during harvesting, handling, storage, transportation and marketing.
For the fruit industry, that means there is an opportunity to connect more of what is produced on farms to businesses that can process it into juice and other higher-value products.
Getting the fruit to the factory
For processors, having access to fruit is just as important as having the capacity to process it.
Fruit is perishable, so farmers need to be able to move their produce to buyers within a reasonable period and in good condition. Where there are limited storage facilities, difficult roads or high transport costs, some of the value can be lost before the produce reaches the market.
Processors also need reliable volumes and consistent quality if they are to keep production running and make investments in additional capacity.
The removal of the excise duty could help strengthen that relationship by making local juice manufacturing more competitive. If manufacturers use the additional room created by the lower tax burden to increase production or invest in their businesses, their demand for locally sourced fruit could also grow.
That could give farmers a stronger market for their produce while creating more opportunities for aggregators and transport businesses that connect farming communities to processing plants.
But for that market to develop fully, the cost of moving the fruit has to make commercial sense.
The rest of the supply chain matters
The removal of the 20% duty does not mean the cost of producing juice falls by 20%, since manufacturers still have to manage expenses including raw materials, packaging, labour, electricity, transport, financing and distribution.
That is particularly important when it comes to sourcing fruit.
A processor may be ready to buy more from farmers, but if transporting the produce from farming communities to the factory is expensive or difficult, those logistics costs can affect the price at which the processor is able to buy.
Road conditions, transport costs and access to storage therefore remain important to the growth of local processing, while reliable electricity is also needed to run processing equipment and, where necessary, preserve fruit through cold storage.
Improving these areas would allow manufacturers to make better use of the benefit created by the tax relief, rather than having the savings from the lower tax burden offset by inefficiencies elsewhere in the supply chain.
There is already room to reduce losses
The scale of the post-harvest challenge shows why strengthening this connection matters.
A 2025 study of traders in Eastern Ghana found that 71.2% reported post-harvest losses of more than 10%, while 85.6% had no access to post-harvest extension support and 88.6% lacked information on post-harvest technologies.
For farmers, reducing those losses means more of what they produce can reach a buyer in a condition that still has commercial value.
For processors, it means a larger and potentially more reliable pool of locally available raw materials.
This is where the removal of the excise duty could have a wider effect. As local manufacturers become more competitive and potentially expand production, stronger demand for fruit could encourage greater coordination between farmers, aggregators and processors.
Building on the tax relief
The removal of the excise duty therefore provides local juice manufacturers with an opportunity to improve their competitiveness and potentially expand their businesses, while creating room for stronger links with Ghana’s agricultural sector.
How much of that opportunity is realised will also depend on the conditions around the factory, from roads and transport to electricity, storage, aggregation and access to finance.
With the tax burden reduced, improving those parts of the supply chain could make it easier and cheaper for processors to source Ghanaian fruit, allowing more farmers to participate in the growing processing market.
For Ghana, the opportunity is not only to produce more fruit, but to ensure that more of what is already grown can move efficiently from farms into factories and become higher-value products.
The excise duty has been removed. The next opportunity is to make the supply chain around that relief work better for the businesses and farmers connected to it.
