The average price of 43 food commodities including agric eggs, tomatoes, yam and garri appreciated marginally by 0.02 percent month-on-month to N611.54 in January 2019 compared with N610.15 recorded in December 2018, figures from National Bureau of Statistics showed.
Olayinka Olohunlana, a Lagos-based economic analyst positioned that the slight increase in food prices reflects the high cost of production on part of farmers driven by high transport cost and poor infrastructure.
“Food rising reflects that transportation cost is still at the high side. This is a big issue facing farmers today. Our road networks are deplorable add this makes it difficult for farmers to easily transport their products. Not to talk of traffic congestion. All these add to production cost, and definitely would reflect on price”, Olohunlana said.
On year-on-year basis, average price of 43 commodities covered in the report declined by 6.75 percent from N624.84 in January 2018.
The average price of a dozen of agric egg medium-sized rose to N469.85, indicating 0.62 percent expansion over N466.97 reported in the previous month. Highest average price for this food item was recorded in Anambra (N551.17) and the least in Gombe (N412.27).
The cost of brown and white beans in January stood at N382.76 and N336.72 respectively, the least prices in 12 months since January 2018. The cost of brown beans declined by 1.04 percent from N386.78 in December 2018, while white beans fell by 2.32 percent from N344.72 reported a month prior. Both types of beans were most expensive in Ebonyi. Bauchi (N278.57) and Kano (N225.01) recorded the least price in brown and white beans respectively.
The cost of rice per kilogram (agric sold loose, local sold loose, medium grained and imported sold loose) averaged N321.90 in January, indicating 0.26 percent marginal decline from N322.74 reported in December. The four types of rice were most expensive in Bayelsa.
A slight drop was recorded in the cost of white and yellow garri in January. White garri contracted by 0.51 percent to N165.80 in the review month. Also, yellow garri fell by 2.15 percent to N191.78. White and yellow garri sold the highest in Kogi (N255.95) and Borno (N256.95) respectively. Cross-river recorded the least price for both items.
The average cost of yam per kilogram stood at N211.21, the lowest in 12 months since January 2018. Price of yam depreciated by 0.68 percent month-on-month and 6.75 percent year-on-year from N212.65 in December 2018 and N226.51 January 2018 respectively. Yam tuber sold the highest in Ogun (N315.38) and cheapest in Taraba (N102.33).
Price of 1kg of tomato across all states plus FCT averaged N265.49 in January, a decline of 2.22 percent from N271.51 in the previous month. The item was most expensive in Lagos (N466.67) and cheapest in Kano (N127.07).
Analysis of the report revealed that 23 food items including agric eggs, palm oil, plantain and tomato had a price rise in January, while the average cost of 20 other items such as bean, yam and garri deflated
