Ghana Union of Traders Association says prices of goods may go up as Chinese imports slow

According to GUTA, their members are unable to import goods from China due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

As of 2018, Ghana was the 7th largest trading partner of China in Africa. the trade between Ghana and China at the time stood at US$7.3 billion.

GUTA President, Dr. Joseph Obeng, told Accra-based Citi FM that even though the virus has not currently affected prices they may be forced to increase prices of goods to keep up with market trends should the situation persist.

“For now I cannot say it has actually affected prices, but we are anticipating that from May if the situation persists then we are going to suffer some kind of shortage which will definitely impact on the prices.”

Dr Obeng said due to the Coronavirus, members of GUTA now trade from Dubai. He explained that prices are likely to go up due to the shortage of goods.

“Most of our people, who normally travel, do physical inspection and buy their goods in the open markets; they are not doing that now, they can’t even do that. Now most of them have turned to Dubai where prices have started going up and they are also expecting shortage in the next month or two. For those of us who even deal with the manufacturing entities, now they can’t produce in time. If they used to produce in a month, now they will tell you in two months because of the challenges that they are also facing as a result of the outbreak in their country. So definitely, if there is shortage it will impact on the prices” he explained.

China was the first country to record coronavirus in 2019. Currently, about 100 countries have recorded the disease with about 4,000 deaths recorded, although more than half of those affected have recovered.

Business activities and trade in many countries have been greatly affected especially in China and those that depend on the Asian country.