Tomatoes getting rotten due to lack of market
Heavy dip by SCB drags All-Share Index down
Tomatoes getting rotten due to lack of market
Tuobodom (Brong Ahafo) 21 Dec. '99
Tomato farmers at Tuobodom, near Techiman say they are desperate because large quantities of tomatoes are getting rotten on their farms due to lack of market.
According to the Krontihene of the town, Nana Fosu Aduanwoma II, "some tomato farmers are contemplating suicide to save themselves from further agonies and harassment from creditors".
He told the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Tuobodom on Sunday.
Nana Aduanwoma said a crate of tomatoes, which used to sell at 40,000 cedis some few months ago, is now being sold between 5,000 and 10,000 cedis.
He said most of the farmers took loans at high interest rates and the lack of buyers for their produce "is making life unbearable for them".
"At the moment, it is common to see farmers throwing away tomatoes they had worked so hard and spent so much to produce unto the refuse dump''
Nana Aduanwoma appealed to tomato buyers from all over the country to come to Tuobodom because there are large stocks of the produce.
He appealed to the government to take tomato processing very seriously by encouraging more agro-based companies to locate in rural areas.
GRi../
Heavy dip by SCB drags All-Share Index down
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 Dec. '99
Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) on Monday took a heavy dip that dragged the All-Share Index down by 7.0 points to open the week at 735.74 points from 742.74 points.
SCB, the highest priced equity and the second equity with the highest market capitalisation of 300.96 billion cedis, dropped 700 cedis to close the day at 19,000 cedis.
It began the year at 24,000 cedis.
Brokers at CDH Financial Holdings Limited blamed the continuous decline in share prices to what they termed "effects of the correctional phase of prices".
They explained that the correctional phase occurs when equities are over-priced and are brought down gradually to reality by the forces of demand and supply.
"This is what happened at the end of last year when prices of most equities including SCB shot up to as high as 24,000 cedis but has been brought down to 19,000 cedis.
The drop, they said, was, therefore, not surprising as it was anticipated.
They said the same trend of the performance of activities on the bourse for 1998-99 was experienced in 1994-95.
There was an upsurge in the share prices of most of the equities, which resulted in the upward change of the All-Share Index to about 140 per cent in 1994 and was corrected in 1995 to 6.3 per cent.
With the exception of the total shares traded, which went up slightly from 12,300 to 17,200, other market indicators declined with the total shares offered closing lower at 321,260 from 444,000 posted on the bourse on Friday.
Demand pegged at 52,800 down from 60,000 shares.
Market capitalisation dropped significantly to 3,204.72 billion cedis as against 3,215.79 billion cedis registered on Friday, while the change in the year to date of the All-Share Index fixed at negative 15.27 per cent from negative 14.47 per cent.
In the broader market, there were two price changes one down and one up.
SCB lost 700 cedis to close trading at 19,000 while Fan Milk limited gained a cedi at 911 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 456
AGC 18,700
ALW 2,489
BAT 470
CFAO 38
EIC 1,880
FML 911 +1
GBL 1,450
GCB 750
GGL 950
HFC 750
MGL 200
MLC 150
MOGL 14,000
PAF 300
PZ 800
SCB 19,000 -700
SPPC 150
SSB 1,980
UNIL 1,860
UTC-E 125
CMLT 420
GRi