Local food item prices flat in August entry

Prices of local food items were generally flat in the week opening August with key items like palm oil, tomatoes, flour, yam and sugar among others relaxed.

Palm oil maintained its stance at N12, 500 per 25 litre, flour N11,000 per 50 kilogramme, rice N16,000 per 50 kilogramme, sugar N14, 900 per 50 kilogramme and tomatoes N20,000 per 50 kilogramme.

10 kilogramme of Semovita relaxed at N2, 800, yellow garri at N6, 750 per 50 kilogramme and cement at N2, 550 per 50 kilogramme.

Meanwhile, in the international agric commodities market, wheat rose by 0.81 percent to $5.58 per bushel on persistence of poor weather conditions. Prices declined 4.20 percent to $5.01 per bushel at June end from $5.23 per bushel on June opening, with average price at $5.09. The decline recorded during the month was due to the improvement in US weather conditions.

Corn on the other hand was down 0.13 percent to $3.86 per bushel amid fears of excess global supply, while cocoa prices fell 0.45 percent to $2,210 due to poor quality cocoa beans from Ivory Coast.

Cocoa prices increased by 2.20 percent to close the month July at $2,512 per metric tonne from $2,458 in June. The average price of cocoa was $2,442 9.32 percent lower than $2,693/mt in May. This decline was triggered by investors’ expectations of an imminent increase in production from top growing countries, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, coupled with lower demand from top importers in the UK.

Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s largest producer of cocoa is projecting a production of about 9 million tonnes, while Ghana is planning to increase output by one million metric tonnes. The favorable weather conditions in key growing regions also supported production, driving down prices.

Sugar prices managed to get up 0.09 percent to $0.1054 per pound on the strength of growing health concerns.