Processors of soya beans in Ghana are warning that prices of cooking oil will continue to surge, as government neglect the challenges of players in the industry.

According to the processors, Ghana’s soya beans are all exported to Indian to be processed into cooking oil and soya bean cake for Ghanaians to import at higher prices.

Speaking to Joy Business on the current state of the industry, leading soya beans processor, Yaw Adu Poku lamented that Ghana is gradually losing the industry to the Indians.

He explained that the Indians are supporting the production and export of the raw beans for processing outside Ghana, while local processors lack the required funding to sustain their operations.

“The Indians are investing heavily in the soya industry geared towards exports not for the local market. The local soya beans industry has gone moribund. It’s closed”, he said.

Mr. Poku cautioned that the soya beans industry is crucial to other areas under the agribusiness sector, hence must not be neglected.

He stated for example that soya beans is an important ingredient in the production of poultry feed, a product in short supply in Ghana.

He added that Ghana could produce and supply enough cooking oil and poultry feed from soya beans if government makes investment in the processing of soya beans.

“The beans are exported and brought back as cake at high cost to make poultry feed. Why is this the case? I used to have a processing plant but lack of investment from banks have made the plant obsolete.”