Despite the drop in food inflation in October, nominal prices of food items continue to rise. An NBS sample of 43 food items across the country shows that 37 experienced price increases while just 6 dropped in price in October compared to September.
In a previous report, Dataphyte explained why nominal prices continue to rise despite a drop in food inflation.
Analysis shows that of the food items that experienced an increase, the price of Irish potato increased the most. It rose from N358.68 in September to N367.85 in October, representing a 2.57% increase. Also, the Irish potato increased from N318.96 in October 2020 to N367.85 in October 2021, a 15.33% increase.
In October, the other food items that had high price increases were palm oil (one bottle), onion bulb, unsliced bread, and unripe plantain in the top five. These items increased by 2.5%, 2.38%, 2.18% and 2.1% respectively.
A year-on-year comparison of these same goods showed that the prices of all the sampled food items increased compared to the prices in October 2020. Beans (white, black) had the highest price increase as it rose from N300.37 in October 2020 to N464.74 in October 2021. This represented a 54.72% increase.
Although beans (brown) experienced a drop in price in October 2021 compared to September (N490.29 to N478.76), it recorded the second-highest price increase of 46.46% (from N326.88 to N478.76).
Other food items that made up the top five in this category are palm oil, vegetable oil, and Titus (frozen).
The zonal comparison shows that, on average, prices of food items were highest in the South-South region of the country. The region had an average price of N783.86 in October. In October, the most expensive food items purchased in this region were beef (boneless), wheat flour, and palm oil. However, garri, yam tubers, and onion bulbs were less expensive.
The North-West region had the least average prices of food items. On average, food items cost N405.11 in the states in the North-West region. While beef (boneless) was the most expensive in the region, yam was the least expensive food item purchased in October.
Dataphyte analysis classified the food items into four – proteinous food, staple foods, tubers, and oil.
The average prices of staple foods increased marginally from N396.21 in September to N398.67. Among the 16 staple food items sampled, 13 experienced price increases.
The onion bulb had the highest price increase in October as it increased from N298.94 to N306.07. This represented a 2.38% increase in price.
In the top five, unsliced bread increased by 2.18%, unripe plantain by 2.10%, rice (medium) by 2%, and tomato by 1.53%.
Garri (both white and yellow) and sliced bread were the food items whose prices dropped in October compared to September.
Proteinous food items increased averagely from N1119.89 in September to N1126.55 in October. Twenty-one varieties sampled fall under this classification. These varieties broadly fall under eggs, chicken, beef, fish, and beans.
Of the varieties sampled, 18 of them had price increases, while the prices of the remaining three dropped in October compared to September.
The medium-sized agric egg was the item with the highest price increase while beans (brown) had the highest drop in price. The agric egg increased from N604.99 in September to N614.89 in October, a 1.64% price increase. Beans (brown) decreased from 490.29 to N478.76 within the same period signifying a 2.35% decrease in price.
All the three oil food items sampled in October had price increases. A bottle of palm oil increased the most as it moved from N709.50 in September to N727.21 in October. This signifies a 2.5% increase in price.
Vegetable oil and groundnut oil in bottles were the other two food items in this category. A bottle of vegetable oil increased from N812.94 in September to M825.46 in October, while groundnut oil increased from N844.42 to N852.32 within the same period. While vegetable oil rose by 1.54%, groundnut oil increased marginally by 0.94%.
Three tuber crops were sampled – yam, irish potato, and sweet potato. Irish potato had the highest price increase, as stated earlier. Yam followed with a price movement from N306.05 in September to N313.05 in October, increasing by 2.10%. Sweet potato increased marginally from N190.75 to N192.14 in the same period.