Tomato prices to skyrocket in coming months

quist

February 19, 2016 3:19 PM

The negative phenomenon has been attributed to hikes in exchange rate of the Ghana Cedi against the CFA Franc, as most of the tomatoes being consumed in the country is imported from Cote d'Ivoire.

Tomatoes sold in a Ghanaian markets

Ghanaians may want to prepare for a looming shortage of tomatoes in Accra in the coming months.

This is according to Esoko Ghana, and some dealers in Accra.

According to them, the negative phenomenon is attributable to hikes in exchange rate of the Ghana Cedi against the CFA Franc, as most of the tomatoes consumed in Ghana between May and October each year are imported from Cote d'Ivoire.

The traders say they spend as much us CFA600,000 the equivalent of GHC400 in importing a box of tomatoes, which they sell at GHC250.

The traders are however not prepared to keep reducing prices just to satisfy their customers. They say they will either stop selling the vegetables or increase the prices commensurate with the costs of productiion.

Based on these developments, the Agriculture Resource Information outfit, Esoko Ghana is predicting drastic increase in prices in the coming months.

In figures released by Esoko last week, prices of some household staples saw an increase for the second week in February, 2016.

The prices of gari, wheat, yam, rice, and millet, which are all common ingredients for Ghanaian household meals, have increased between 4 and 12 percent.

The prices of tomatoes, however, dropped for the third consecutive week since January 21. According to Esoko, the prices of tomatoes dipped by 11 percent to end the second week of February with an average price of GHC6.90 per medium tin.

quist