Many native soya bean processors in Ashanti Region are progressively shutting down their companies because the scarcity of uncooked supplies wanted to feed their trade intensifies.
Already, different trade gamers have shut down as a result of identical causes which have rendered many individuals jobless.
According to the trade gamers, overseas firms have penetrated the market and are buying the beans from the farmers at a better worth, making it tough for them to compete.
Our information staff in Kumasi have visited premises of two soya beans processing factories to study at firsthand, the seriousness of the issue. The processors blamed the state of affairs on the excessive export of the commodity to different nations for larger costs and the results of the current dry climate within the northern a part of the nation.
Soya beans are one of many legumes produced primarily on a industrial foundation in components of Ghana. It is the uncooked materials for industrial processing into cooking oil and the supply of protein for poultry and fish, with the Ashanti Region internet hosting a number of the factories. One of them is Vester Oil Mill at Deduako within the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region.
It has been in operation since 2007 with a present processing of 150 tons of soya beans a day. It processes the soya beans into each refined and crude soya oil for home and industrial makes use of with the soya meal, which is the byproduct utilized by poultry farmers as protein-rich meal for his or her births.
There was no manufacturing on the time of our go to with employees doing nothing and the warehouse nearly empty.
We gathered that was not the precise degree of manufacturing on a standard day. With few shares, the corporate will run out of shares subsequent week and prospects will discover it tough to get issues to purchase.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vester Oil Mill, Akwasi Nyamekye, advised our information staff that the corporate, with a workforce of 120, each at administration and operations, runs three shifts at optimum manufacturing degree.
He mentioned for the previous three months, manufacturing has considerably lowered resulting from insufficient uncooked supplies.
“What you heard is true. We don’t have raw materials. For the past three months we’ve not been operating. I’ve 2 plants. One mechanical expeller at Aputuogya and here where we’re now at Deduako, another one plant that is designed for 100 tons a day. We also have a refinery where we refine oil here,” he mentioned.
Mr Nyamekye, who can also be the Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono and Bono Regional Chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), blamed the scarcity on the export of soya beans.
“We have people coming in from other places, especially Indians going onto the market and moping almost everything,” the processor revealed.
He famous that the intrusion has had hostile results on the native factories, therefore, the rampant shutdown of soya bean processing factories.
At one other soya beans processing manufacturing facility, Kwabena Gyasi Oil Processing at Abrepo Akoko Sperse space, our information staff famous that there was no manufacturing going down with solely the safety and the proprietor at submit. The machines had been redundant.
The Chief Executive Officer, Kwabena Gyasi, additionally confirmed that there’s scarcity of soya beans.
“The employees, for now, we’ve 5 everlasting individuals. When the uncooked supplies can be found, we have interaction three extra arms to assist. Now, the place’s the uncooked supplies to run? He quizzed.
He mentioned his soybean manufacturing facility can be folding up in 30 days due to lack of uncooked supplies.
“We cope with machines, and so you must have uncooked supplies to feed the machines commonly to make them environment friendly and worthwhile.
“What has happened now is that most of the volumes [of soya beans] that should be around to assist us to sustain our production has all been mopped up by foreigners so there is none in there for us to aggregate,” he said.
