The prices of some basic food items took a flight for the worse in the last 12 months. The result is that the items went out of reach of consumers. This was the outcome of the survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) contained in a report released on Wednesday. It said that prices of beans, tomatoes and eggs rose significantly in the past 12 months, recording over 200 percent increase.
The report, termed ‘Selected Food Price Watch for July 2024’, shows that the average price of 1kg beans brown (sold loose) stood at N2,444.81, a 262.98 per cent increase from N673.53 sold in July 2023 and a 6.63 per cent rise in price on a month-on-month basis from N2,292.76 in June 2024.
For medium-sized agric eggs (12 pieces), it was said that the increase was 217 per cent, from N1,006.64 in July of last year to N 1,935.69 in June 2024. On a month-on-month basis, the average price of this item rose by 12.11 per cent from N1,935.69 in June 2024.
“There was also a notable price increase of Tomato 1kg by 203.57 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N557.96 in July 2023 to N1,693.83 in July 2024. On a month-on-month basis, it decreased by -26.43 per cent from N2,302.26 in June 2024,” NBS said.
It went on to state that the average price of 1kg garri, white, sold loose went up by 167.98% from N429.89 to N1,151.79 in July 2024, while the average price of 1kg of yam tuber increased by 234.23 per cent from N539.41 to N1,802.84 in July 2024.
Though, there was a reduction in the price month-on-month by -10.82 per cent from N2,021.55 in June 2024 to N 1,802.84 in July 2024.
For states, it noted that the highest average price of 1kg of bean brown (sold loose) was recorded in Rivers State at N3,070.96 while the lowest was in Adamawa State at N1,532.23.
The highest average price of 1kg of tomato was recorded in Osun at N 3,000 while the lowest was in Kaduna State at N761.45.
For 1kg of yam tuber, Kwara State recorded the highest price at N 3,894.08, while Adamawa recorded the lowest price at N742.95. Gombe recorded the highest average price of 1kg Garri white sold loose at N1,624.72, while the lowest was reported in Taraba at N892.98.
