Two brands of the Beatex Enterprise Ghana Limited, the Lord and Old Soldier Jumbo mosquito coils had been named the best insecticides of the year 2015.
The two local insecticides picked the award at this year’s Made-in-Ghana awards night held at the banquet hall in Accra on Friday.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Chairman of Beatex Enterprise, Mr Edmund Akoto- Bamfo dedicated the awards to the workers of the company.
He also lauded Ghanaians for acknowledging their efforts. He said the company, currently had 220 staff instead of 1000 staff.
It also has 10,000 indirect employees nationwide, ranging from wholesalers, retailers, distribution van drivers, and rural youth in the production of local raw materials, among others.
Recall
It would be called that, this paper in its September, 8, 2015 edition carried an article with the headline “Insecticide company calls for support to save jobs”.
The paper said hundreds of Ghanaians were to lose their jobs if nothing was done to prevent the collapse of the only surviving local insecticide manufacturing company in the country, Beatex Enterprise Ghana Limited.
The imminent collapse of Beatex was attributed to disparities in duties between the local insecticide manufacturing industry and importers of mosquito coil.
It stated that while importers of the product were charged $8.1 per carton of coil, local manufacturers were charged $14.3.
Mr Akoto- Bamfo told Daily Graphic that the situation still existed with five out of the six insecticide manufacturing companies in the country already folded up, making his company the only survivor.
He named the already collapsed local insecticide companies as Miaco, Sunfront, Eagle, Antelope and Care, situated at Tema Community 7 and 9, the Spintex Road and Achimota, respectively.
Disparities in duty payment
According to him, the duty paid on his company’s products, which consist of eight brands, with the Lord Brand Mosquito Coil as the flagship, was a 100 per cent higher than that paid on imported coils.
He revealed that Beatex was, consequently, unable to sell its products, since the imported ones were cheaper as a result of the lower duty paid on them.
He expressed fear that the situation would soon lead to the closure of the factory, which would in turn lead to thousands of job losses.
He added that in trying to save the situation, the company decided to find out the cause of the low patronage of its products.
Mr Akoto-Bamfo revealed that after investigations, it came to light that all the 15 importers of mosquito coils into the country were charged $8.1 per carton of the product, compared to the $14.3 duty charged on a carton of the product produced locally.
He however said the awards had encouraged him to forge ahead to sustain the company. He added that all would be done to ensure that the company would in the next two years to stand on its feet again.
Call for even playing field
He, therefore, called for an even playing field where both local manufacturers and importers would be made to pay the same duty on competitive products.
He was of the view that all local industries in the country would fold up if foreign companies were given preferential treatment over the indigenous ones, adding that importers were not helping the local economy.
Touching on the contribution of the company to the development of the country, Mr Akoto-Bamfo said by producing for the local market, the country would not need foreign exchange to import mosquito repellents each month to meet local demand.
He added that Beatex had the potential to export 20 per cent of its products if it was given a level playing field, saying that would translate into foreign exchange earnings on a yearly basis.
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