Data article from ExporterIQ. Figures in US dollars for 2025, as reported to the UN (Comtrade) by Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo and other African countries. UK figures are UK exports as declared to HM Revenue and Customs, converted to US dollars. Sources, dates and limits are listed at the end.
Ghana reported buying $8.21m of wigs and false hair from Nigeria in 2025, and Nigeria reported selling $8.18m. For hair products the two customs records agree almost to the dollar. For skin care they do not come close: Côte d'Ivoire reports $66.5m of make-up and skin care going to Ghana, while Ghana reports $5.4m coming in. This article sets out who supplies Ghana with hair products, wigs, skin care, soap and perfume, what each side reports, and what that means if you plan to buy or sell these goods.
Who supplies Ghana, at a glance
| Product (code) | Main African supplier | Ghana reports | Supplier reports | Supplier's figure compared with Ghana's |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wigs and false hair (6704) | Nigeria | $8.21m, 1,721 t | $8.18m, 1,451 t | about the same |
| Hair preparations: shampoo, conditioner, relaxers and similar (3305) | Nigeria | $2.64m, 2,013 t | $2.16m, 1,686 t | 18% lower |
| Human hair, dressed or worked (6703) | Nigeria | $2.44m, 368 t | $1.21m, 211 t | about half |
| Shaving, deodorant and bath products (3307) | Nigeria | $2.03m, 760 t | $2.44m, 369 t | 20% higher |
| Make-up and skin care (3304) | Côte d'Ivoire | $5.44m, 13,760 t | $66.52m, 26,264 t | 12 times higher |
| Soap (3401) | Côte d'Ivoire | $12.55m, 33,004 t | $37.18m, 38,826 t | 3 times higher |
| Perfumes (3303) | Côte d'Ivoire | $2.10m, 2,495 t | $17.46m, 4,416 t | 8 times higher |
Ghana's report is its imports from the named country. The supplier's report is that country's own exports to Ghana. 2025 only; t means tonnes.
Hair: Nigeria leads, and the two sides agree
Nigeria is Ghana's main African source of hair products. Ghana reports $8.21m of wigs and false hair from Nigeria, about 1,721 tonnes, against $8.18m and 1,451 tonnes in Nigeria's own report. Togo is second in Ghana's record at $2.24m, though Togo reports exporting $24.4m of the same goods to Ghana, about eleven times more. For worked human hair, Ghana reports $2.44m from Nigeria, about 368 tonnes, and Nigeria reports half of that, $1.21m. Hair preparations such as shampoo, conditioner and relaxers are closer: Ghana reports $2.64m from Nigeria and Nigeria reports $2.16m.
For scale, Ghana reported total imports from all countries of $9.35m of wigs and false hair and $9.5m of worked human hair in 2024, the latest year with a world total in our data. In 2025 it reported $8.21m of wigs from Nigeria alone, so Nigeria looks like most of that market. The years differ, so treat this as a rough guide.
Skin care, soap and perfume: the two customs records do not match
Côte d'Ivoire is the largest regional supplier of these goods in both sides' reports. For make-up and skin care, Ghana reports $5.44m from Côte d'Ivoire (about 13,760 tonnes) and Côte d'Ivoire reports $66.52m (about 26,264 tonnes). That is about twelve times the value and nearly twice the weight. The Ivorian figure is also nearly five times Ghana's total reported skin care imports from all countries in 2024, $13.6m, although that is a different year. Perfume shows the same pattern, $2.10m on Ghana's side and $17.46m on Côte d'Ivoire's.
Soap is the clearest case. The weights are in the same range, about 33,000 tonnes in Ghana's report and 38,800 tonnes in Côte d'Ivoire's, but the values are $12.55m and $37.18m. In Ghana's report that works out at about $380 a tonne, in Côte d'Ivoire's at about $960. When weights agree and values do not, the difference looks more like how the goods are valued at the border than how much moved. We cannot tell which value is nearer the truth.
Côte d'Ivoire's report lists $173.9m of make-up and skin care going to its five biggest customers in the region: Ghana ($66.5m), Mali ($32.0m), Nigeria ($27.4m), Burkina Faso ($24.8m) and Togo ($23.3m). Mali and Burkina Faso do not report their 2025 imports in our data, so for them Côte d'Ivoire's report is the only record. Nigeria does report, and its figure differs again: $6.71m from Côte d'Ivoire, but about 22,200 tonnes, against about 9,700 tonnes in Côte d'Ivoire's report.
The UK as a supplier
The UK declares much larger flows of some of these goods to Africa than the African countries record. For 2025 the UK reports shipping $31.2m of shaving, deodorant and bath products to its 17 African partners in our data, $20.1m of it (about 5,176 tonnes) to Nigeria and $9.9m (1,436 tonnes) to Ghana. Make-up and skin care came to $10.2m, led by Nigeria ($5.61m) and Ghana ($3.62m). Perfumes came to $9.4m, led by Ghana ($4.15m) and Nigeria ($2.65m), and soap to $5.0m.
Against that, Ghana reports $0.47m of shaving, deodorant and bath products from the UK (1,129 tonnes) and Nigeria reports $0.31m (235 tonnes). For soap and hair preparations Ghana records $0.32m and $0.05m against the UK's $2.46m and $0.72m. We do not know how much of each difference is goods that moved on to another country, goods valued differently or goods not recorded.
Reading the gaps
Gaps of this size are common in trade between countries whose customs systems differ. Goods can be valued at different points, pass through one country on the way to another, be recorded under different product codes, move informally without being recorded, or be reported late. We show each country's own report for its own side and do not pick a winner, so treat any single figure as indicative.
What it means for small importers and exporters
- Hair is a measurable market. For wigs and hair preparations the Ghanaian and Nigerian records are close, so the size of the trade is not in doubt. A Nigerian supplier is the benchmark a new seller to Ghana is up against.
- Skin care and soap are large but badly measured. Do not size a deal from one country's figure when the other side's is three to twelve times different. Ask for shipment records or invoices.
- Do not read a value per tonne as a price. The same soap trade gives $380 a tonne on one side and $960 on the other. These are customs values, not what a buyer pays.
- Confirm your product code. Hair, extensions and wigs can fall under different codes depending on how the product is made. Your customs agent will use the code, and it decides the duty.
- Cosmetics and soap are regulated products. Most markets ask for registration, labelling or testing. Ask the regulator in the destination country, and your customs agent, what applies before you ship.
- Check the company, not just the country. Look at companies in Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo on ExporterIQ before you pay a deposit.
Full figures are on the Ghana and Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, UK and Ghana and UK and Nigeria corridor pages.
What this article does not say
- It covers 2025 only. Nine African countries reported their trade for 2025 in our data (Benin, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo), and earlier years have too few reports to compare, so it makes no claim about growth.
- Countries that do not report, such as Mali and Burkina Faso, appear only through their suppliers' reports.
- Product codes are four digits, so shampoo is not separated from other hair preparations, or extensions from other hair goods.
- Values are customs values, not market prices, and a value per tonne is not a price.
- The 2024 world totals for Ghana are used only for scale and are from a different year.
- We do not explain the gaps; we describe what was reported.
Sources
- ExporterIQ corridor data, built from UN Comtrade reports by Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Senegal and other African countries, 2025 (Ghana's world totals 2024), product codes 3303, 3304, 3305, 3306, 3307, 3401, 6703 and 6704
- UK exports to African countries: HM Revenue and Customs overseas trade statistics, converted to US dollars at the Bank of England monthly average rate. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Written by Andre Biyog, ExporterIQ.
