Cooking oil at Ajah Market moved sharply at the retail end early in the year. A 1 litre bottle of Active palm oil sold for N2,000 in the week of January 19 and doubled to N4,000 by the week of January 26, a 100% rise in a single week, while the 5 litre size edged up from N11,000 to N12,000 over the same period. A one-week doubling on a small bottle usually reflects a change in what was on the shelf as much as a pure price move, so buyers should read it as a sharp repricing rather than a settled trend, but the direction was firmly upward.
By the week of March 16 the market was carrying a full ladder of bulk local oils. A 25 litre tin of local palm oil sold at N55,000 against a 25 litre tin of groundnut oil at N54,000, an unusually narrow gap between the two. The 5 litre sizes were similarly close, with palm oil at N10,200 and groundnut oil at N10,800. For a food business buying in volume, the two oils were near enough in price that the choice came down to preference rather than cost.
The firm oil prices track a global signal. World Bank commodity data shows palm oil, the base for much of the cooking oil sold in Nigeria, trading at multi-year highs through early 2026 on dry weather, strong demand and higher logistics costs. Even though Nigeria is a major palm oil producer, it still imports refined cooking oil, so a rising world price feeds through to the tins on an Ajah shelf.
For the June capture, the market added small formats to the range, with local palm oil and groundnut oil both recorded at N2,000 for a 750ml bottle and N4,000 for a 1.5 litre bottle. These are first captures at those sizes rather than price changes.
Live readings sit on the Ajah Market real-time prices page, and shoppers can compare oil formats on the price check tool.