Yam prices fall in Tamale

The Aboabo and Central markets both in Tamale, saw a major reduction in the price of yam in the week ending October 11. For example, four tubers of medium sized yam are sold this week at GH¢ 3.00 as against last week’s price of GH¢ 4.00 per three tubers.

Some of the market women the GNA interacted with said they were still expecting a further decrease in yam price because this was the harvesting season for the crop. Meanwhile, in the same Aboabo and Central markets, the price of onion recorded increases in compared to the trading pattern last week; onion were sold last week at GH¢9.00 per bowl but is selling at GH¢14.00 this week.

The Esoko-GNA Commodity Index ended the week at 20123 points at the retail level, representing a fall of 179 points on the previous week’s trading. The wholesale index however rose at the back of marginal increases in the price of some key commodities, closing the week at 17324, from the previous week’s closing of 17228.

Generally, prices of major commodities closed the week mixed, the EGCI weekly survey has revealed. The survey, carried out in some major markets across the country, showed that the push through effects of the recent hikes in fuel prices was yet to be fully passed on to the consumers.

Prices of groundnuts also fell from GH¢7.00 to GH¢4.50 for the fresh produce while the old stock fell from GH¢8.00 to GH¢5.00. Local rice saw a price increase from GH¢4.00 to GH¢4.50.

In Accra, commodity prices also reflected the trend from some stability in the Kaneshie market to some decline and rises in the other major markets. At the Kaneshie market, prices of most foodstuffs were stable in the week to Friday, closing at the same levels as last week.

Three big tubers of "puna" yam are being sold at GH¢ 5.00 while a heap of cassava sold between GHC1 and GH¢ 2 depending on the size. A cup of white beans was sold at GH¢1.70p while three packs of iodated salt was sold at GH¢ 1while a cup of 'agushie' was sold at GHC4.00 Three big fingers of ripe plantain were sold at GH¢ 2.00 while four fingers of unripe plantain were also sold at GH¢ 2.

A small bucket of tomatoes was going for GH¢ 5.00 and GH¢ 4.00 respectively due to their sizes A bowl of Maize was been sold for GHC2.00 while an “olonka” of groundnut was selling for GH¢ 9 A bunch of kontomire sells for between 50p and GH¢ 1.00, depending on the size, while tuna popularly called “Opoku) was selling between GH¢ 10 to GH¢ 4.00 depending on the size.

At the makola market, the wholesale price of tomatoes has increased from GH¢ 80 Cedis to GH¢ 120 per box. This has led to an increase in the retail price from GH¢ 4 to GH¢ 7 per bowl. Similarly, the price of a sack of pepper also saw an increase from GH¢ 70 last week to the current price of GH¢ 90, with traders attributing the rise to recent fuel price increases.

At the La mini market also in Accra, prices of food stuffs like tomatoes, okro, fresh fish, smoked fish, plantain yam and cassava, among others, were unchanged from last week despite the increase in petroleum prices. However, the price of a box of fresh tomatoes had increased from GH¢ 80 to GH¢ 150.