Oloyin beans at Ajah Market climbed steeply through February before giving back part of the gain by mid-year. A 50kg bag sold for N60,333 in the week of February 2, firmed to N64,000 by February 9, and reached N80,000 in the week of February 23, a rise of N19,667 or 32.6% inside three weeks. From that peak the bag eased to N74,000 by the week of March 16 and to N70,000 by the week of June 1. Measured across the full stretch, from early February to the June reading, the bag is up N9,667 or 16.0%, so buyers are paying materially more than at the start of the year even after the pullback.
The smaller measures tell the same story in miniature. A paint bucket of Oloyin sat at N6,000 in the week of January 26, dipped to N4,500 through February, then recovered to N5,500 by March 16 and held there into June 1. A derica moved from N1,000 through February to N1,200 in March and N1,300 by June 1. For a household buying in small quantities, the June derica price is the highest in the series, which means the easing at bag level has not fully reached the retail cup.
The pattern at Ajah fits the national turn in the legume market. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that beans were among the staples driving food inflation back above the headline rate in April 2026, when food inflation reached 16.06% year on year, up from 8.89% in January. The bureau's selected food price watch, reported by Vanguard, put a kilogram of brown beans at N1,325.85 in March, down almost half from a year earlier but up 1.41% month on month, the same push and pull between annual relief and short-term pressure visible in the Ajah numbers.
For buyers deciding when to commit to a bag, the shape of the Ajah series matters more than any single week. Prices spiked in February, held elevated through March, and only softened by June, so the current N70,000 is best read as a partial retreat rather than a return to the February floor.
Live readings sit on the Ajah Market real-time prices page, and the beans trend can be followed on the historical prices tool.