By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
A high-level Ministerial Dialogue on “Accelerating Africa’s Industrial Transformation: Converting Extraction into Value and Building Industrial Champions” at day – one of the Africa Trade Summit in Accra, had industry leaders bring forth ideas on getting value for raw materials.
Present at the dialogue on Wednesday, January 28, Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare highlighted Government’s efforts in pushing policies to support industry through access to raw materials, harmonised standards, affordable financing and regional value chains, as Africa seeks to convert extraction into value and build industrial champions.
She stressed that, industrialisation will remain elusive if African producers continue to face multiple and duplicative standards regimes across the continent, noting that the lack of harmonised standards raises costs, delays trade and weakens competitiveness under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
According to her, industrialization requires intentional policies to ensure steady raw material availability.
She cited key challenges in the sector including securing land for industrial use and struggles with unreliable input supplies.
The Minister added that, to address these challenges, government has rolled out the Feed the Industry Programme which links
agribusiness production to industrial demand and the ban of export of non-ferrous raw materials to ensure local value addition.
She also called for innovative financing options, regional value chains, and collaboration among African governments to unlock sustainable industrial growth.
