The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unilever Ghana Limited, Charles Alexander Coffie, has disclosed that the government of Ghana loses about $9 million in revenue every year, through illegal activities of some cooking oil importers in the country.
Mr. Coffie further disclosed that the illegal activities, of these cooking oil importers in March 2008 alone, caused a total loss of $1,499,968.00 in revenue to the government.
The Unilever boss explained that the importers used dubious and illegal means, such as smuggling, re-routing, under-declaration and transiting of goods, to evade import taxes.
He has, therefore, appealed to the government, to beware of such importers, and find out how best it would be able to curtail such practices.
The Unilever CEO made the observation, when the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Trade, Industry, PSD and PSI toured the premises of Unilever Ghana Limited, to acquaint themselves with the operations of the company, last Monday.
According to him, an average of 40,000 metric tonnes of cooking oil was being imported into the country, by local food and vegetable oil importers, every year.
Mr. Coffie observed that in order to undermine the efforts of local cooking oil manufacturers, to keep the industry going, these local food and vegetable oil importers, deliberately reduce prices of their products.
He further stated that these importers pride themselves as always selling cooking oil, at a price relatively cheaper than what local cooking oil manufacturers are offering on the open market, adding that the reality of their actions was very criminal.
He stated that Unilever Ghana had been involved in a sustainable agricultural practice, to ensure a regular supply of palm oil, the main raw material for the production of cooking oil.
He explained that this led to the company investing in the Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP) in 1976, and subsequently, in the Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP) in 1998.
Explaining further, he pointed out that in addition, the two plantations also purchase fresh fruits from over 6,000 farmers in the Central and Western regions, thus giving the farmers a ready market.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee, Mr. J. B. Dankwah, appealed to the government to help encourage Ghanaians, to patronize locally manufactured cooking oil in particular, and made in Ghana products in general.
According to him, when Ghanaians develop the interest in patronising our locally made products, it will help boost the local industry, which will lead to an increase in the demand for our local products, which will eventually lead to higher foreign exchange earnings.
Mr. J. B. Dankwah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwah North, said members of his Committee had embarked on a ten-day tour of the various oil companies in the country, in order to ascertain the capacity of local palm plantations to feed the industry, with its needed raw materials.
He mentioned the Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP), located at Adum Banso in the Western Region, Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP), Ghana Oil Palm Development Corporation (GOPDC), Dwaben Palm Oil Plantation, Appiah Menkah Soap Company, and Unilever Ghana Limited, as some of the places his committee had visited in the last ten days.
The Chairman explained that research and investigations they had conducted, have proved that the local oil industry had the capacity to feed its consumers, hence the need for the government to put in more efforts to help grow the local oil industry.
