Business News of Sunday, 23 March 2014

Source: GNA

Commodity prices stable for the second straight week

Food commodity prices at major market centres in Accra and Tamale are generally stable for the second straight week, a GNA survey conducted on Friday has shown.

The survey carried out in five major markets in Accra and the two main markets in Tamale also revealed a drop in the prices of some foodstuffs, while others saw a minor increase.

At the Nima Market in Accra, prices of foodstuffs remained unchanged from last week. For Example, a bowl of gari which sold for GH4.00 last week, is still being sold for the same price as at Friday.

The price of a bowl of maize is unchanged at GH2.50 while that of local rice (broken) is at GH8.00. Other foodstuffs, whose prices have remained stable are beans (Niger variety) which sells at GH6.50, onion at GH8.00, agushi (Niger variety) at GH16.00 and the Burkina variety at GH13.00.

A bowl of dried pepper is sold at GH10.00, while the powdered one is being sold for GH14.00. A bowl of fresh pepper (kpakposhito) is going for GH8.00 while a bucket of tomatoes (Navrongo variety) is being sold at GH10.00.

At the La mini market, the story is not different as prices of commodities have maintained their stability over the week. The survey confirmed that prices of farm produce such as beans, yam, smoked fish, palm nut oil, vegetable oil, palm nut and plantain have also remained unchanged.

Five fingers of plantain, for instance, is sold at GH3.00 same as last week, while the price for a bowl of garden eggs is going for GH6.00, just as last week. A tuber of yam (Puna) is selling between GH2.00 and GH6.00. A bucket of tomatoes is going for GH10.00 while that of onion is being sold at GH8.00, same as the previous week.

At the Adabraka market, prices have remained stable over the week. The price of a bowl of tomatoes has remained unchanged at GH14.00 over the week, while pepper sells at GH3.00 for the red variety and GH2.00 for the green one. On the other hand, the price of a bunch of plantain increased on Friday to GH17.00, compared to GH15.00 last week.

At the Abeka Market, prices of foodstuffs remain relatively similar to those obtained in the other markets across Accra. Three fingers of ripe plantain are being sold at GH2.00, while four fingers of unripe plantain are at GH2.00.

Two big tubers of "puna" yam are going for GH5.00, while a heap of cassava is going for between GH1.00 and GH2.00. A small bucket of tomatoes is selling for between GH5.00 and GH4.00 depending on the size. One olonka of palm nuts (both abepa and agric varieties) still sold at GH4.00 on Friday, same as the previous week.

At the Tema Station market in Accra there was GH2.00 increase in the price of a crate of egg which now sells at GH12.00 compared to GHc10 last week. Except for the change in the price of eggs, the prices of other foodstuffs at the market remained at the same levels as last week.

A small bucket of tomatoes sold at either GH5.00 or GH4.00 due to the size. Three tubers of yam are going for GH5.00, while three fingers of plantain sell for GH2.00, with six fingers of ripe plantain going for GH5.00.

In the two main markets in Tamale, Aboabo and the Tamale Central markets, the prices of tomatoes and pepper saw price declines on Friday as compared to what pertained the previous week.

The survey showed that tomatoes and pepper saw a reduction of GH1.00 each to sell at GH9.00 and GH3.50 respectively. However, prices of other commodities such as maize, millet sorghum, yam, groundnut, wheat, soya beans, kontomere, local and foreign rice remained stable in the two markets.