The prices of some commodities like imported rice, maize and garri, continued to rise at the Mile 12 market in Lagos during the week.
This is contained in the commodity index report provided by Novus Agro Nigeria Ltd, an agro-allied company which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday.
Miss Avadoo Gaadi, an enumeration specialist with Novus Agro told NAN that the increase in the prices of commodities were due to a rise in the exchange rate of the dollar, the fuel price increase and insufficient rain.
Gaadi said that traders were selling off the old stock of commodities at higher prices, because the demand for the available stock was high.
“Basically, the present commodity prices have been influenced by some factors such as the exchange rate of the dollar and logistics constraints caused by the fuel scarcity.
“Bringing in imported rice and the cost of transportation from the ports to the markets have also contributed to the increase in the prices of a lot of commodity prices in the market.
“Palm oil production is now very expensive and it is used for garri production, and as a result, the price of garri has increased. There are no rains and so there is scarcity of garri in the market.
“Maize is not really in the market because of the lack of rain. Traders are selling off old stock at higher prices basically, “ Gaadi said.
She said that the prices of commodities have been on the increase since the beginning of the year, due to a totality of these factors.
NAN reports that the price of a 50 kg bag of imported rice now sells for N13, 500 whereas, it was sold for N13, 083 at the market last week.
The rice recorded a difference of about N417, while the paint bucket measurement selling at N1, 200 sold for N1, 130 last week.
A 100kg bag of maize also increased from N9, 000 last week to N9, 375 presently at the market, with a N375 increase; while the paint bucket measurement remained stable at N400.
The 60kg bag of garri presently selling at the market for N11, 638 was sold for N11, 533 last week, recording a difference of N105, while the paint bucket measurement remained at N510.
Meanwhile, some other commodities like groundnut (100kg), sorghum (100kg and soya beans (100kg) remained stable at N26, 000, N10, 000 and N15, 000 respectively.
A 25 litre container of Palm oil and a 100kg bag of onions also remained the same at N6, 500 and 9,500 respectively, at the market.
However, the 100kg bag of drum beans recorded a slight drop from N19, 667 as at last week, to N19, 250 currently. (NAN)
Insufficient rainfall responsible for rise in commodity prices in Lagos markets – Agro coy
