Some traders at the Kasoa Market are complaining of low patronage by customers in recent times. The traders are certain the situation is due to economic hardship which is preventing their customers to buy their products.
Citi Business News interacted with some of them to find out how the women are cashing in with recent happenings in the economy.
The traders who have been selling at the market for over 10 years, some for more than 20 years complain that instead of them seeing huge profits, they are rather ending up with low or no profit at all. Some are even saddled in debt.
Their reason they say is due to low patronage by their customers.
The traders said they are positive their customers are not buying due to the current economic situation in the country.
They add that even if customers show interest in buying their products, they complain of it being too expensive and most often end up not buying at all.
Some of the traders who spoke to Citi Business News explain how prices of their goods have shot up over a year.
“Prices have increased. Previously, I was buying a sack of groundnut for either GHc350 or GHc 450 but currently, I buy it at either GHc800 or GHc850.” One said.
Another said: “This business was very lucrative but the foodstuff is very expensive now so customers are shying away from buying. I used to sell a lot of snails for only Ghc5 but now the same quantity goes for either Ghc20 or Ghc30. Ghc5 is now very meager unlike in the past.”
“This year has not been a good one for me. I used to buy the carton of fish for Ghc150, Ghc170 and Ghc180 but now, I buy the same carton at Gh¢280. When I bring it here to sell, I am not able to make any profit and customers don’t buy too. It is very expensive at the cold store” another trader lamented.
The situation has forced the majority of them to reduce their commodities to avoid it perishing. But even so, they say it does not change their condition.
For some, the solution will be for the government to set up a factory that will process perishable foodstuff such as tomatoes into a paste. This will then generate revenue for them instead of the huge losses they make whenever the product goes bad.
