Commodity Prices Mixed At Close Of Week - Survey

Prices of commodities in the major marketing centres across the country closed mixed on Friday, the ESOKO-GNA weekly survey has shown. The survey showed that while prices of some items were stable, or closed slightly higher, others saw a marginal decrease due to supply variations in most instances. The prices have been relatively stable in the past three weeks. At the Takoradi market, prices of some commodities saw upwards review while others were unchanged or slightly lower. For example, the prices of vegetables including cabbage and carrots fell because of increased supply to the market centre. A full bag of Cabbage which sold for GHC120.00 last week is now being sold for GHC80, while a bag of carrot this week is going for GHC100, down from GHC120 last week. Also, 100 tubers of yam, which sold for GHC500 last week is now going for GHC400 for the same quantity due to increased supply. On the other hand, the price of a bag of green pepper is up to GHC150 compared with GHc100 for the same quantity last week and a bag of garden eggs rose to GHC80 from GHC40 due to short supply. Other items that saw price jumps, include a bag of onion up slightly to GHC370 from GHC350 and bowl of pepper up to GHC30 on Friday compared with GHC10 at the previous close. Commodities such as Plantain, Cassava, maize and millet were stable at last week�s prices. In the marketing centres in Accra, including Makola, Madina, Tema Station and Tudu, prices of the items were broadly stable. In the Madina Market a paint rubber of Tomatoes, the Navrongo variety, sells between GHc10 and GHc12 while the other varieties go for between GHc8 and GHc10. Four big size onions sell for GHc 5 while five small size onions sell for GHc2. Tuna (big fish) sells between GHc8 and GHc15 while three pieces of medium sized smoked Herring sell for GHc2.00. A small sized tuber of yam sells for GHc2, with large size tuber of yam selling for between GHc 3 and GHc5. Beans sell between GHc1 and GHc2.50p depending on the type. The black eye beans very small sizes is measured with the old tin of Blue-band margarine for GHc1 while the bigger sizes measured with the same can sells slightly higher. Traders explain that some of the beans are from Niger, Benin, Togo and Ghana and the prices are also determined based on the country of origin and how fast it cooks. At the Makola Market, the price of a paint rubber of tomatoes is unchanged at GHC10 from last week. The prices of a bowl of Groundnuts, Beans, Onion and Red pepper were all same at last week�s prices. Groundnut is going for GHC8, beans for GHC6, Onion for GHC10 and Red Pepper for GHC5. The price of three tubers of yam is also unchanged at GHC10 from last week. There was, however, a GHC 2.00 increase in the price of a crate of raw poultry eggs, which was being sold for GHC12.00 as compared to last week�s price of GHC10.00. At the Tema Station in Accra Central, prices were unstable, just like the trend in the other market centres. A 5kg Gino rice was going for GHC22 up from GHC20 while the 25kg bag has risen from GHC65.00 to GHC68.00 with the prices of perfumed rice increasing according to the brand. However, the price of yam has not increased with respect to the previous week. Three small tubers of yam, which sold for GHc5 and three big ones for GHc10 last week remain the same this week. A bunch of plantain was sold for between GHc30 and GHc40, whiles 'apem' went for GHc10 depending on the finger size, while 7 or 8 fingers went for GHC5, depending on the size. A crate of tomato is being sold for GHC250 or GHC280 depending on the variety and quality of the tomato. At the Tudu market a small paint rubber of tomato is being sold for GHC12 down from GHC13 last week. Four fingers of plantain came down from GHC4 to GHC2 and a 5kg bag of rice fell to GHC11, from GHC12. Some of the food items which have their prices unchanged as at Friday include medium size cassava for GHC2.00, a small rubber bucket of cocoyam for GHC20.00, salted tilapia for GHC1 and three tubers of yam (medium size) for GHC5.00. At the Koforidua Central Market, there was a marginal increase in commodity prices at the close of the week on Friday. Foodstuffs such as cassava, cocoyam, okro, onion, tomatoes and plantain recorded marginal increases in prices as compared to the previous week, whiles prices of yam, garden eggs, smoked fish, tilapia, and gari, among other staples, remained unchanged. Generally, traders cited supply constraints as reasons for the slight increases in the prices of some commodities, while the prices of others fell because of seasonal glut situations.