Cocoa Season begins next two weeks
Market activities pick up at close of week
Kumasi Abattoir runs at a loss
Tema Assembly vets applications for poverty fund
Rural banks to lose licence for mismanagement
Cocoa Season begins next two weeks
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Oct ’99
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) said on Friday that this year's cocoa buying season will begin two weeks from now.
The Board said it has borrowed an initial 300 million dollars from Barclays Bank International to begin buying cocoa.
Mr John H. M. Newman, Chief Executive, said in an interview that the bank is leading negotiations in the International Financial Markets to enable the Board to sign an agreement in the next three weeks for the loan to finance cocoa purchases for 1999 and 2000.
He explained that the initial loan was to enable the Board to begin the purchases earlier, before the signing of the actual loan agreement.
He gave the assurance that there would be sufficient money to pay for any cocoa bought. Mr Newman said the COCOBOD "is highly reputed as a first class borrower in the International Financial Markets and we are jealously fighting to sustain it".
He explained that this year's mid-crop season closed earlier than usual because bad cocoa beans were being smuggled into the country.
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Market activities pick up at close of week
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Oct. ’99
Activities on the stock market picked up at the close of the week as the All-Share Index closed higher with 3.42 points at 763.35 points.
The percentage change in the All-Share index was 0.40.
The market index, which has for the past weeks experienced negative pressures, on Friday made a turn around on the strengths of gains in share prices of Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL) and SSB Bank (SSB), two of the top six equities with the highest market capitalisation.
The change in the year to date was fixed at 12.09 per cent.
Market capitalisation closed weekend trading higher at 3,243.75 billion cedis as against 3,238.38 billion cedis.
Market indicators recorded significant gains with shares traded closing at 2,068,700 shares from 917,100 shares with the majority shares of 2,032,500 shares being sold by GGL.
Offers went up to 3.7 million shares from 2.5 million shares while bids finished higher at 2,081,500 from Wednesday's 976,400 shares.
On the broader market, there were three price changes - two up and one down. GGL closed the week richer at 990 cedis with a 40-cedi gain while SSB registered a 10-cedi gain to close at 1,990 cedis.
The only loser was Mobil Ghana Limited (MOGL), which lost nine cedis to finish trading at 15,990 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 398
AGC 18,700
ALW 2,499
BAT 400
CFAO 40
EIC 1,880
FML 1,000
GBL 1,600
GCB 850
GGL 990 +40
HFC 750
MGL 220
MLC 170
MOGL 15,990 -9
PAF 290
PZ 800
SCB 19,750
SPPC 180
SSB 1,990 +10
UNIL 1,890
UTC-E 125
CMLT 420
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Kumasi Abattoir runs at a loss
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 4 Oct. ’99
The Management of the Kumasi Abattoir Company is to increase its charges in view of the high cost of labour and utility services, Oheneba Kwaku Abu-Bonsra, Ashanti Regional Manager of Social Security National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has announced.
The Regional Manager of SSNIT, the major shareholders in the company, was speaking at a prayer meeting organised to reconcile two feuding butchers' associations operating at the Abattoir.
The prayers were offered on Friday to seal the reconciliation of the Kumasi Co-operative Butchers Society and the Progressive Butchers Union.
Oheneba Abu-Bonsra said the company processed 7,779 cattle, 2,933 sheep and goats and 293 pigs at a cost of 106.9 million cedis in six months.
He said the present charges were not viable, hence the need to increase them adding that the company made losses on the processing of pigs.
The Abattoir has to be run in a cost-effective manner, Oheneba Abu-Bonsra said, adding that any deviation from that strategy would mean running it down.
Mr K. Agyening-Boateng, the Managing Director of the Company said the reconciliation was significant since it would make their work at the Abattoir easy.
Nana Owusu Achaw Prempeh II, Worakesehene, who deputised for Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, expressed serious concern about the unhygienic manner in which butchers handle meat from the Abattoir to the markets.
He said the wholesomeness of the meat was questionable and appealed to the Public Health Division of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to live up to expectation.
Nana Prempeh suggested to the KMA and the butchers to put their heads together and procure a refrigeration van to cart the meat from the Abattoir to the markets under hygienic conditions.
Alhaji Abubakar Ali, Sarkin (Chief of) Zongo of Kumasi, expressed concern about the high illiteracy rate among Muslims and suggested the institution of a scholarship scheme for Muslim children who show the ability to pursue higher education with assistance from the Abattoir Company.
Alhaji Issa Faringoro, Chairman of the Progressive Butchers Union, who spoke on behalf of the two factions, said several attempts by leaders of the Muslim community to settle the differences failed until they themselves realised that they were losing a lot and, therefore, decided to smoke the peace pipe.
To cement the reconciliation, a cow and a sheep were slaughtered, while a nine member disciplinary committee under the Chairmanship of Mr Mohammed Sani Atipaga has been set up to ensure strict compliance with the terms of the reconciliation.
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