Nigerians last month enjoyed food items at the cheapest rate since January 2017, at least, as a favourable harvest in the period saw the average price of food in July dipped by the most in 2019.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Food Prices Watch for July 2019 reports that on the average, food prices dipped by 2.07 month-on-month in July and 10.78 year-on-year in July.
Analysis shows a drop in food price for a second straight month and the biggest yearly decline so far in 2019.
The commencement of harvest season elevated the supply of farm produce and saw food price moderate in July to an average of N585.71 for 43 food commodities captured in the NBS survey. This is the cheapest in more than two and a half years.
The Food Price Watch is a monthly survey by the NBS that gauges movement in select food items across all the 774 local governments across all states and the FCT.
The data are obtained from over 10,000 respondents and locations, and reflect actual prices households state they bought those items.
The average price of one dozen of egg medium-sized reduced to N468.314 in July, 5.45 less than N495.32 obtained in the previous month. The average price was at its peak in Anambra (N554.84) and lowest in Bauchi (N427.5).
The average price of 1kg beans (brown) fell by 4.56 percent to N327.18 in July. For white beans, the average price was N289.78, which indicates a monthly decline of 6.94 percent.
Beans (white) was highest in Ebonyi (N483.47) and least in Niger (N181.41). The brown counterpart sold dearest in Ebonyi (N520.41) and least in Gombe (N242.88).
The price of ofada rice per 1kg declined 1.62 percent to average N367.44 while agricultural sold loose rice and imported high-quality grain fell 1.16 percent and 3.96 percent, each to average N314.56 and N356.1, respectively.
On the other hand, local sold loose rice jumped 2.32 percent to N277.38 per kg in July.
While the average price of white garri increased by 4.42 percent to N151.73 per kg in the period, yellow garri fell 1.26 percent to N154.05. The average price of 1kg of yam tuber decreased month-on-month by 6.21 percent to N170.85 in July 2019 from N182.15 in June 2019.
Tomato (1kg) fell month-on-month to N203.55 in July, 9.96 percent decline from N226.07 in June 2019.
A loaf of sliced bread (500g) rose by 0.26 percent in the month but fell 3.85 percent year-on-year at N293.49, unsliced bread sold at N241.02 declining by 1.26 percent in the month.
Evaporated tin milk at N157.14 was 0.12 percent costlier on a monthly basis but 5.19 percent cheaper on year-on-year. In July, lower food prices pushed inflation near 4-year low of 11.08 percent.
