Importers not happy with influx of Ivorian rice

Page 24: Daily Graphic, February 18, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
KEY rice importers have expressed concern about the large influx of Ivorian rice brands into the country through the borders.
The concerns had been aggravated by the fact that those bringing in the rice through the borders do not pay duties and other related taxes as compared to those using the Tema port.
According to the importers, the situation had resulted in wide price differences which made those paying 20 per cent duties and 12.5 per cent VAT, 2.5 per cent NHIL and 2.4 per cent other taxes to be losing out.
They noted that the massive inflow of the illicit rice on the markets, particularly in the Central, Western, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and lately the Greater Accra regions, was seen as a major threat to the government’s policy of encouraging the consumption of home grown rice as the smuggled rice from Cote d’Ivoire was far cheaper.
“Also the quantum of revenue lost by the government to the smugglers is huge. The people involved in this illegal border trade allegedly pay very nominal amounts at borders such as Kwame Siekrom, Gonokrom and Kofi Badukrom to bring rice into Ghana,” they alleged.
“It is estimated that 100,000 metric tonnes of rice in one kilogramme, five kilogrammes, 25 kilogrammes and 50 kilogrammes, is packaged in sacks and smuggled into the country. There is a major revenue loss to the government on this account,” they indicated.
According to the players, they were not against competition but there should be a level playing field for all of them for consumers to make their preferred choice.
They said if nothing was done within the next three to four months, there would be a major crisis as not only could the smugglers not meet the national requirements but also the genuine businesses could not survive due to continuously reducing sales.
That, they contended, could also result in loss of jobs.
They expressed hope that the government would take some concrete steps on priority basis to deal with this menace.