Household staples see sharp price increases for February

quist

February 13, 2016 11:33 AM

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

The prices of some household staples have seen an increase in prices for the second week in February, 2016. This is according to the farmers pricing resource, Esoko.

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, have 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.

Esoko also gives a segmented breakdown of the prices at which tomatoes are sold in some influential markets across the country.

At Bawku in the Upper East region, the price of the commodity dropped by 33 percent, selling a GHC3.60; 13 percent in Kumasi, selling for GHC5.

Techiman experienced the biggest drop of 35 percent and now selling at GHC7.30

There have been concerns that food prices in Ghana will skyrocket in 2016 after the Ghana Metorological Department predicted poor rainfalls for the year, sparked predictions of a major drought in the year.

The assertion was given credence in January when the food inflation for January as reported by the Ghana Statistical Service was 8.2 percent, a 0.2 percent increase on December 2015's rate of 8 percent.

This notwithstanding, the prices of some vegetables like tomatoes for February so far, have shown the opposite as reported by Esoko. Prices from the second week of January have kept falling. It however, remains to be seen if the trend will continue for the rest of the year, and how the average annual food inflation will perform.

Find a full representation of food prices and inflation for February, week two:

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