Business News of Saturday, 19 October 2013

Source: GNA

Price of tomatoes increases marginally

The price of a bowl of tomatoes, which cost GH¢7 last week, sold at GH¢9.00 in the week ending October 18 at the Madina market in Accra. Generally, at the Madina market prices of kontonmire, onions, plantain, gari, and garden eggs were stable compared to the trading conditions the previous week.
The story was not different at the Makola Market, where the prices of rice, beans, corn dough, tomatoes, onions and smoked fish stayed unchanged. However, in the Makola Market, a bowl of tomatoes sold at GH¢10, the same as the price of the previous week, with a bowl of rice remaining unchanged, at GH¢6, while the price of a bowl of onions was GH¢12, same as that of the previous week.
The prices of vegetables such as cabbages, green pepper, garden eggs as well as fruits remained unchanged and continued to be the cheapest items on the market. At the Tema Station market, prices of most commodities were stable on Friday while others were on the increase compared to last week.
A tuber of yam is being sold for between GH¢3.00 and GH¢4.00, depending on the size, amidst low demand, traders said. On the other hand, the price of a bowl of tomatoes jumped from GH¢6.00 from last week to GH¢10.00 on Friday.
At the La Mini Market, prices of commodities were stable. The price of a bowl of tomatoes was unchanged at GH¢7.00. The prices for other food items like cassava, yam and plantains’ remained the same compared to the previous week.
At the Nima market, however, the prices recorded slight increases; the price of a bowl of tomatoes saw a slight increase from GH¢7.00 to GH¢10.00. A bunch of plantain that was selling at GH¢12.00 last week is now selling at GH¢15.00. A crate of bigger eggs which sold for GH¢8.50 last week was selling at GH¢9.00 on Friday, while the price of a 5 litres Frytol oil, which was GH¢57.00 was selling at GH¢58.00.
At the Kaneshie Market, the price for a bowl of garden eggs fell from GH¢7 to GH¢5, while a bowl of ginger was sold at GH¢7. Meanwhile, the price of a sack of palm nut, which was sold at GH¢40 last week had increased to GH¢45.00, while a bowl of tomatoes also went up from GH¢7.00 to GHc10.00.
The price of Onion also saw a slight increase from GH¢8 to GH¢10 per bowl. On the other hand, the price of a bowl of pepper was stable at GH¢5 for the big sizes and GH¢3 for the small size.
At the Aboabo and Central markets, both in Tamale, there was a jump in yam prices, with three tubers going for GH¢5.00 compared to the major reduction in the price of the commodity last week. Last week, four tubers of medium -sized yam were sold for GH¢3.00.
Meanwhile, in the same Aboabo and Tamale Central markets, the price of onion, which sold last week for GH¢14.00 remained unchanged. The price of groundnuts was also unchanged at GH¢4.50 for the fresh produce while the old stock was sold for GH¢5.00.The price of local rice was stable at GH¢4.50.
The Esoko-GNA Commodity Index (EGCI) closed the week at 20191 points, at the retail level, from the previous week’s value of 20123, and the wholesale index-EGCI-W- closed the week at 17307 points, from the previous week’s closing of 17324 points.