THE GUIDE

The Gluide reports that cloth sellers at the Makola Market (including the 31st December Market) in Accra are very resentful about the arbitrary hikes in the prices of their wares by the textile companies who manufacture them. The Guide says a seriously peeved dealer in Java and Wax prints who pleaded anonymity, called at the office of the paper to complain about the astronomical leap in the prices of those prints. The paper says, according to the woman, on February 17, this year, the wholesale price of Java print manufactured by Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL) was 35,788 cedis a piece. The company, she said, raised the price to 37,582 cedis on July 31. Then again on October 6, it was increased to 42,000 cedis . The trader, according to the Guide, said around the same time (October 6), Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company (GTMC) and Freedom Textile were selling theirs for 37,500 cedis but these have been increased to 41,000 cedis as at the time of lodging the complaint. The Guide says its investigations at the markets established that the current wholesale price of Java print was really 42,000 cedis as the woman said and retailed between 43,000 cedis and 45,000 cedis. The paper says Wax print, which was selling at a wholesale price of 58,000 cedis a piece, had shot up to between 62,000 cedis and 65,000 cedis. A requested design produced by ATL is 60,000 cedis while that of Ghana Textile Printing (GTP), known as super, ranges between 110,000 cedis and 130,000 cedis. GRI