The prices of some staple foods, notably beans, yam, and garri, decreased significantly in August, according to a Nairametrics survey on food items across Lagos state.
However, there were notable increases in the price of some food stuff notably Indomie Noodles and Honeywell Semo.
According to the survey, the price of one tuber of yam dropped by 16.8% in August from N7,125 in July to N5,925.
The price of a bag of white beans declined from N244,250 to N178,750 marking a decrease of 26.8%. For brown beans, the price of one bag dropped by 24.5% from N265,000 in July to N200,000 in the month under review.
The price of a 50kg bag of white garri decreased by 14.2% in August to N46,750. In July, the bag of garri of similar price stood at N54,500 according to Nairametrics survey.
Furthermore, the price of a tin of peak milk dropped from N8,650 in July to N7,250 in August- representing a drop of 16.2%. However, the price of Dano milk refill increased by 14.7% during the period from N3,400 in July to N3,900 in August.
The price of a carton of Indomie noodles (hungry man size) spiked by 28.8% in one month from N9,588 to N12,350.
Also, the price of 1kg, 2kg and 5kg Honeywell semo increased by 38.1%, 25% and 18.7% respectively between July and August. In July, the price of 1kg Honeywell semo stood at N1,413, that of 2kg was N3000 while 5kg was N8,300. In August, the price of 1kg, 2kg and 5kg semo is N1950, N3,750 and N9,850 respectively.
Insights
The decline in specific staple foods will come as a relief to Nigerians who have seen one of the worst costs of living crisis in almost three decades. In the last one-year inflation has reached a 28-year high at 34% with food inflation kissing the 40% mark in June 2024.
- Despite the declaration of emergency on food security by the President in 2023, food prices rose by 13.89% points in the last one year from 26.98% in June 2023 to 40.87% as at July 2024. This has pushed millions of Nigerians, especially the vulnerable households.
- Earlier this year, the World Bank, in its food security report for Nigeria, projected that seven northern states would face severe food security challenges due to escalating food inflation and insecurity in key food-producing regions.
- A recent report from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and its partners indicates that approximately 16% of Nigerians, or around 32 million people, will experience severe food insecurity or hunger between June and August 2024.
Impact on August inflation
In July, Nigeria’s headline inflation slowed to 33.4% from 34.19% in the previous month. The decline in inflation was propelled by the decrease in food prices during the month as food inflation slowed by 0.08%-points from 2.55% in June to 2.47% in July 2024.
- The drop in staple food prices in August is projected to contributed to decline in headline inflation levels in August as food and beverages contributes up to 17% to the country’s inflation rate- the highest across other products.
- Although report of the survey reveals that raw food prices seem to be declining against processed food which indicates the impact of production cost and other economic realities on shelf prices of these food items. Analysts have opined that the drop in food prices especially garri, beans and others is due to the increase in supply as Nigerian farmers enter the harvest season.
- However, there is a high probability that this could be a temporary relief as recent flood incidents in up to 10 Northern states have seen farmlands and houses destroyed which could further exacerbate the food crises.
