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 GH¢120.00 last week is now being sold for GH¢80, while a bag of carrot this week is going for GH¢100, down from GH¢C120 last week.

Also, 100 tubers of yam, which sold for GH¢500 last week is now going for GH¢400 for the same quantity due to increased supply.

On the other hand, the price of a bag of green pepper is up to GH¢150 compared with GH¢100 for the same quantity last week and a bag of garden eggs rose to GH¢80 from GH¢40 due to short supply.

Other items that saw price jumps, include a bag of onion up slightly to GH¢370 from GH¢350 and bowl of pepper up to GH¢30 on Friday compared with GH¢10 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 GH¢10 and GH¢12 while the other varieties go for between GH¢8 and GH¢10.

Four big size onions sell for GH¢5 while five small size onions sell for GH¢2. Tuna (big fish) sells between GH¢8 and GH¢15 while three pieces of medium sized smoked Herring sell for GH¢2.00.

A small sized tuber of yam sells for GH¢2, with large size tuber of yam selling for between GH¢3 and GH¢5.

Beans sell between GH¢1 and GH¢2.50p depending on the type. The black eye beans very small sizes is measured with the old tin of Blue-band margarine for GH¢1 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 GH¢10 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 GH¢8, beans for GH¢6, Onion for GH¢10 and Red Pepper for GH¢5.

The price of three tubers of yam is also unchanged at GH¢10 from last week.

There was, however, a GH¢ 2.00 increase in the price of a crate of raw poultry eggs, which was being sold for GH¢12.00 as compared to last week’s price of GH¢10.00.

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 GH¢22 up from GH¢20 while the 25kg bag has risen from GH¢65.00 to GH¢68.00 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 GH¢5 and three big ones for GH¢10 last week remain the same this week.

A bunch of plantain was sold for between GH¢30 and GH¢40, whiles 'apem' went for GH¢10 depending on the finger size, while 7 or 8 fingers went for GH¢5, depending on the size.

A crate of tomato is being sold for GH¢250 or GH¢280 depending on the variety and quality of the tomato.

At the Tudu market a small paint rubber of tomato is being sold for GH¢12 down from GH¢13 last week. Four fingers of plantain came down from GH¢4 to GH¢2 and a 5kg bag of rice fell to GH¢11, from GH¢12.

Some of the food items which have their prices unchanged as at Friday include medium size cassava for GH¢2.00, a small rubber bucket of cocoyam for GH¢20.00, salted tilapia for GH¢1 and three tubers of yam (medium size) for GH¢5.00.

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.