Border Closure:Prices Of Rice,Eggs Skyrocket

The average price of one kilogram of imported high quality rice (sold loose) increased by 3.08 per cent to N382.57 in October, 2019 from N371.13 in September 2019. The selected food price watch data for October 2019 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also revealed that the average price of one dozen of medium-sized agric eggs rose by 1.24 per cent to N462.46 in October 2019 from N456.81 in September 2019.

The price increases may not be unconnected with the closure of Nigeria’s borders since August, 2019 due to what the Federal Government said were harmful effects of unbridled smuggling of goods into the country, which negatively affected the growth of local production. However, the NBS report showed that the average price of piece of medium-size agric eggs (price of one) decreased by -1.90 per cent to N40.51 in October 2019 from N41.30 in September.

Similarly, the report showed that the average price of 1kg of tomato decreased by by 2.58 per cent to N233.38 in October from N227.50 in September. Similarly, the average price of 1kg of yam tuber decreased year-on-year by -28.73% and month-on month by -5.51% to N179.75 in October 2019 from N190.23 in September 2019.