Tema, Nov 23, GNA- Officials of the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) on Thursday paid a working visit to two of its 2006 award winning companies in Tema to assess their operations. The three-man delegation led by Mrs Agnes Adjei-Sam, Manager of the Export Trade Information Centre of GEPC visited Wor Sea Company, exporters of frozen sea foods and Myroc Food Processing Company Limited, exporters of processed can tuna.

Mrs Adjei-Sam congratulated Wor Sea Company for winning the gold export awards for 2002 and 2006 as well as Myroc Food Processing for winning the silver export awards for 2005 and 2006. She said the visit is to interact with the management and staff of the companies to collate first hand information on the challenges they encountered in the export industry with a view to formulating measures to improve upon their operations.

Mr Christian Raffaelli, Manager of Wor Sea said the company exports lobsters, octopus and other seafoods to the European Union (EU). Mr Raffaelli said the company exported 36 containers of frozen seafoods in 2006 and has already exported 23 containers this year. He stated that apart from competing with five major exporting companies, his outfit's greatest challenge has to do with the low fish catch in the Ghanaian waters.

Mr Emmanuel Asante, General Manager of Myroc Food Processing on his part said the seven-year-old company has a plant capacity of 100 metric tonnes of raw tuna per day and 1,500 tonnes freezer capacity. Mr Asante said the company processes raw tuna bought from fishing vessels for export to the EU.

He said the company has so far exported 21.5 million dollars worth of fish this year, compared to 17.6 million dollars in 2006 and was considering exporting tuna preserved in olive oil in glass jars. Touching on the challenges confronting the company, he said apart from funding and the recent power crises, the non-availability of fish during the lean season affected its operations greatly.

On the effect of the award on the company, Mr Asante said it has propelled the company's 800 workers to put in their best as they aimed at winning the gold award for 2007.