One of the more useful things FoodPrices Nigeria can do with its data is track the same seller across multiple visits to the same market. When that happens, any price change is real - not a comparison between two different people who may source differently, price differently, or sell different grades of the same product. At Ayobo Market, that condition is met. The same seller, Mr Uche, was captured on March 23 and again on April 15. What changed between those two dates is worth reading carefully.
Imported Rice (Long Grain) has fallen. Mr Uche quoted N58,000 per 50kg bag on March 23. On April 15, the same seller is at N54,000 - a confirmed drop of N4,000 or 6.9%. The 25kg half-bag has fallen more sharply in proportional terms, from N34,000 to N27,000, a 20.6% decline. The paint bucket dropped from N6,000 to N5,000 and the derica from N1,200 to N900. A drop of this size on the smaller units within three weeks from the same seller is notable. It could reflect a new stock consignment bought at a better wholesale price, competitive pressure from nearby markets, or early signs of softening at the Lagos port wholesale level for this grain variety. FoodPrices will monitor Mr Uche's prices in coming weeks to see whether the direction holds.
Beans (Oloyin) has moved the other way. Mr Uche quoted N60,000 per 50kg bag on March 23. Today he is at N62,000, a confirmed N2,000 increase or 3.3%. The 25kg half-bag moved from N30,000 to N31,000 in the same period. The more significant retail movement is at the paint bucket level, which has risen from N4,000 to N4,500 - a 12.5% increase on the unit that daily buyers use most. For a household buying a paint of Oloyin every week, that is an extra N500 each time, which adds up to N2,000 a month. Beans (Olo), a cheaper variety, also saw a small confirmed move. Mr Uche's 25kg bag price went from N28,000 to N29,000. The 50kg bag price for Olo was not captured in both visits from Mr Uche specifically, so we leave that comparison aside.
Two products appear in Ayobo's records for the first time this week from Mr Uche. Beans (Drum) enters at N60,000 per 50kg bag and N30,000 for the half, with a paint at N4,500 and a derica at N900. Beans (Oloyin Pelebe), a larger-seeded premium variant of Oloyin, debuts at N62,000 per 50kg bag - matching the standard Oloyin price exactly, which suggests Mr Uche is positioning them as near-equivalents in price even if their cooking characteristics differ. Since these are first captures, there is no prior baseline to compare against.
On garri, the confirmed movements are small but consistently downward. Garri (White) has dropped from N19,000 to N18,000 per 50kg bag between Mr Uche's two visits, a 5.3% decline. The 25kg bag moved from N9,500 to N9,000. Garri (Yellow) followed the same pattern, falling from N21,000 to N20,000 per 50kg bag and from N10,500 to N10,000 for the half. These are modest moves but they are confirmed from the same seller, which makes them more reliable than a cross-seller comparison would be. Nairametrics reported in early April that garri wholesale prices in Edo and Delta states have stabilised following the dry-season harvest, and Mr Uche's numbers at Ayobo are consistent with that upstream easing beginning to filter through.
The overall picture from Ayobo this week is one of diverging pressures within the same market stall. Rice is getting cheaper. Beans are getting more expensive. Garri is easing slightly. For a Lagos household managing a weekly food budget across all three product categories, the net effect is roughly neutral - but the composition of that budget is shifting in ways that matter. Those who depend on long grain rice as a primary carbohydrate have some relief. Those whose protein source is Oloyin beans are facing continued pressure. Track how these prices develop week by week at foodprices.ng/real-time-prices and explore the longer trend at foodprices.ng/historical-prices.