Consumers will benefit from price reduction* Finatrade declares

Front Page: June 18, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Finatrade Group of Companies has announced a reduction in the prices of all its rice brands with immediate effect.
It said it started releasing a new consignment of rice to its clients last Friday.
It said all things being equal, consumers should be benefiting from the reduced prices by the close of this week.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Nabil Mourkazel, told the Daily Graphic that it was criminal for the company’s clients to continue to sell at the old prices to consumers, saying, “We expect the change to reflect on the market.”
A 50-kilogramme bag of Vietnamese rice, which was sold at a wholesale price of GH¢53, will now go for GH¢49, while Thai rice of the same weight will now go for GH¢50, instead of the previous price of GH¢55.20.
Texas rice, the highest quality rice, will now sell at GH¢57, instead of GH¢61, per 50-kilogramme bag at the wholesale.
President J. A. Kufuor, on May 23, 2008, announced measures to mitigate the hardships on Ghanaians resulting from the global food and fuel crises.
He asked all Ghanaians, particularly importers, to co-operate, so that the benefits could be felt by all.
Following that, Parliament last week amended the Custom and Excise (Duty and other Taxes) Act 2008 to remove import duties on rice, wheat, yellow maize and crude vegetables for soap and food manufacture to become law and it was assented to by President Kufuor last Friday.
A statement signed by Mr Andrew Awuni, the Press Secretary to the President and Presidential Spokesman, and issued in Accra on Monday said, “With this law now operational, it is expected that importers will benefit from the removal of duties and other taxes and subsequently pass on such benefits to the end consumers.”
“Importers are reminded that it should be criminal for anybody to re-export these duty-free items,” it added.
The statement said the removal of the taxes was aimed at reducing the prices of those commodities on the market for the benefit of consumers, in the face of rising food and fuel prices globally.
Mr Mourkazel said Finatrade expected its clients, who were mainly wholesalers, to deliver the rice to the retailers by the close of the week so that consumers would also begin to benefit from it from next week.
He said the company would put pressure on its clients to make sure that they passed on the benefits to consumers.
“If the savings are not passed on, we will sanction them by blacklisting them. We are keen to ensure that the objective set by the government really works to the benefit of all Ghanaians,” he said.
Mr Mourkazel appealed to Ghanaians, particularly traders, to co-operate to ensure the success of the government’s initiative.
He explained that since the company had reduced the wholesale price to its clients, there should be a reduction in the chain.
He also explained that the company dealt in 12 different brands, all of which had different prices, and, therefore, urged the consuming public to expect similar prices on the market.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of Finatrade, Mr John Awuni, said the company would be running advertisements in both the electronic and print media to inform consumers about the new prices.