Wholesale vegetable prices are moving in different directions, with tomatoes, peppers and wet-season onions becoming more expensive within days, even as sweet potatoes declined and several other staples held their ground.
Price data comparing September 28 and October 2, 2026 shows ordinary tomatoes rising from N35,000 to N40,000 per 50kg basket, a 14.3 percent increase in just four days.
Shombo, also known as Bawa pepper, recorded an equally sharp rise, moving from N25,000 to N30,000 per 20kg bag, while tatashe increased from N35,000 to N40,000 per 25kg bag.
Wet-season onions also climbed from N65,000 to N70,000 per 70kg bag.
The tomato market shows one of the clearest price differences across varieties.
Ordinary tomatoes were priced at N40,000 for a 50kg basket on October 2, compared with N35,000 four days earlier.
Hybrid tomatoes, however, remained at N35,000, but are sold in a 25kg crate.
This means buyers were paying the same N35,000 for half the quantity of hybrid tomatoes that could be purchased in the ordinary variety at the September 28 price.
At the latest prices, ordinary tomatoes cost N800 per kilogramme based on the stated 50kg basket, while hybrid tomatoes work out at N1,400 per kilogramme based on the 25kg crate.
Pepper prices also strengthened during the period.
Atarugu, or rodo, held at N35,000 per 20kg bag, translating to N1,750 per kilogramme.
Shombo rose from N25,000 to N30,000 per 20kg bag, taking its implied wholesale price to N1,500 per kilogramme.
Tatashe increased to N40,000 per 25kg bag, equivalent to N1,600 per kilogram, from N35,000 previously.
Wet-season onions increased to N70,000 per 70kg bag from N65,000, while dry-season onions remained significantly more expensive at N95,000 per 70kg bag.
The latest figures put the price gap between the two onion varieties at N25,000 per bag, or about 38.5 percent relative to the wet-season variety.
Potatoes moved in the opposite direction.
Sweet potatoes fell from N50,000 to N45,000 per 100kg bag, representing a 10 percent decline.
Irish potatoes, meanwhile, remained unchanged at N85,000 per 50kg bag.
On a weight-adjusted basis, the difference is even more pronounced: sweet potatoes cost N450 per kilogramme at the latest price, compared with N1,700 per kilogramme for Irish potatoes.
That puts Irish potatoes at nearly four times the implied price of sweet potatoes.
Not all commodities recorded changes during the four-day period.
Okro remained at N15,000 per 20kg bag, while cabbage held at N45,000 per 30kg bag.
Carrots stayed at N50,000 per 60kg bag, and cucumber remained at N30,000 per 30kg bag.
Dried white maize also held at N38,000 per 100kg bag.
At the latest prices, cabbage was equivalent to N1,500 per kilogramme, carrots N833, cucumber N1,000 and dried white maize N380 per kilogramme.
The four-day price comparison shows a market of sharply different commodity movements rather than a broad-based increase in food costs.
Shombo recorded the largest percentage increase, rising 20 percent from N25,000 to N30,000 per 20kg bag. Ordinary tomatoes and Tatashe each increased 14.3 percent, while wet-season onions rose 7.7 percent. Sweet potatoes were the only commodity among the movers to record a decline, falling 10 percent from N50,000 to N45,000 per 100kg bag.
The N5,000 increases recorded by tomatoes, Shombo and Tatashe therefore carry different cost implications. The same nominal increase translates into a larger percentage jump for Shombo because of its lower starting price.
The comparison becomes even more significant when quantities are considered. Wholesale buyers paying the same headline price for different commodities may be purchasing substantially different volumes, making pack-size and kilogram costs critical to actual procurement decisions.
The resulting price divergence leaves households and food businesses exposed to different levels of cost pressure depending on their commodity mix. For operators with high fresh-produce consumption, continued volatility could feed directly into margins, menu prices and production costs as the fourth quarter progresses.
