Food prices remain stable, despite rise in inflation

Despite the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid-el-Kabir, the prices of staple food items in the market have been relatively stable in the last one month.

However, the price stability is only limited to nonperishable goods because there has been an increase in the prices of tomatoes, peppers, onions, meat – usually transported from the northern part of the country – and palm oil. A NEXT survey carried out at Mile 12 and Ogba food markets in Lagos shows that while the prices of some foodstuff were stable some have recorded five to 15 per cent increase depending on the food and market location.

Transportation cost

Bushari Amir, a dealer in onion at the Mile 12 market, said the increase in the price of onions is because the crop is no longer in season as those found in the market are those stored for the after-harvest period.

“The price of onions will remain on a high side for some time because most of the produce in the market are dried ones which have been stored for the post harvest market. The cost of transportation has not made things easy as this has also added to the cost of getting the produce to the market.

“The current increase in price is due to the preparation for the Muslim festival as most of the truck drivers and traders are not ready to bring goods down here until after the celebration as most of them want to celebrate with their loved ones and not risk getting stuck on the road due to the bad road conditions in the country,” he said.

Amaka Udoka, a tomatoes and pepper seller at the market, agreed with Mr. Amir’s assessment. “These things are mostly brought from the North and the state of our roads and the Muslim celebration has reduced the number of trucks that come into the market on a daily basis. We have to struggle to share those in the market and this has created an artificial scarcity which we believe will get better after the celebration,” she said.

The survey at the Ogba market shows a 10 per cent increase in the prize of palm oil, from ₦180 to ₦200 per bottle. But the prices of other foodstuff such as garri and yam flour were stable.

There was, however, a disparity in the price of rice at the Mile 12 market, depending on the brand and the shop. While some brands were sold for ₦7, 200 others were as high as ₦8,500.

The difference in the price of rice was attributed to how the produce gets to the market. Tola Ake, a dealer in rice at the Mile 12 market, said “some come in legally, while the bulk of what is in the market are being smuggled. The lack of an open market is really affecting the market as Customs activities on the road are not helping matters and the ones that come in legally are not enough for the market.”

Higher inflation record

The Bureau of National Statistics last week reported a 1.2 per cent rise in inflation rate, from 10.4 per cent in September to 11.6 per cent in October. The bureau said the rise is attributable to the increase in the price of perishable food items such as meat, seafood and fruits.

According to the report “The bulk of the inflation index arose from the increasing price of food items in the market as the inflation index on food items rose from 13.5 per cent from the 12.5 per cent in September.”

Speaking last month, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lamido Sanusi, said he expected the headline inflation in the country to fall below 10 per cent by the end of this year. This prediction now seems too optimistic as it is very unlikely that inflation will fall below two digits before the end of the year.