The price of a 50kg bag of yellow and white maize rose from ₦40,000 in September to ₦55,000 in October 2026 across four Lagos markets, a 37.5% increase, according to Nairametrics' monthly Food Price Watch published on November 1, 2026. The survey tracks 67 staples at Mushin, Daleko, Mile 12 and Oyingbo markets.
More items got dearer in October than in September. Of the 67 items, 31 rose in price, up from 17 the month before, while 20 fell, down from 35, and 16 were unchanged.
Feed Mills Compete for Grain
Traders said demand from poultry farms and feed millers kept maize prices high, and some suppliers were holding back stock. "Poultry farms and feed producers are buying aggressively, and that is competing with household demand," Oyingbo grain merchant Adebayo Olatunji told Nairametrics. Hadiza Bello, a grain trader sourcing from northern Nigeria, said: "A lot of suppliers believe prices could rise further towards the end of the year."
Garri and Ogbono Climb
A 50kg bag of yellow garri rose from ₦18,000 to ₦23,000, a 27.8% increase, while white garri rose 7.7% from ₦19,500 to ₦21,000. A big bag of ogbono (bush mango seed) climbed 35%, from ₦300,000 to ₦405,000.
A carton of frozen chicken rose 14.6% from ₦48,000 to ₦55,000, and a 50kg bag of brown beans rose 4.8% from ₦105,000 to ₦110,000. Onion prices also rose. "Fewer trucks arrived in the market and that immediately affected prices," Mile 12 onion trader Alhaji Ibrahim Yusuf said.
Tomatoes Fall on Harvest Supply
Tomatoes fell as supply arrived from farming belts in northern and central Nigeria. A big basket of round tomatoes dropped 22.2% from ₦45,000 to ₦35,000, and a big basket of oval tomatoes fell 12.5% from ₦80,000 to ₦70,000. "When supply increases like this, buyers have more options and prices naturally come down," Mile 12 tomato wholesaler Kemi Adewale said.
A kilogram of Titus mackerel fell 14.3% from ₦10,500 to ₦9,000. A 25-litre keg of local palm oil eased 2.1% to ₦47,000, and a 50kg bag of Royal Stallion short-grain rice slipped 2% to ₦48,000. "Many households are still managing tight budgets," Daleko frozen fish distributor Emeka Nwosu said.
Lagos Food Inflation Highest in Nigeria
The survey follows official data showing Lagos food inflation rose to 34.40% year on year in September 2026 from 30.89% in August, the highest of any state, Nairametrics reported. National food inflation stood at 19.59%.
FoodPrices Nigeria's own analysts capture verified maize, garri, beans, tomato and palm oil prices in Mushin, Daleko, Mile 12, Oyingbo and 12 other Lagos markets.
Editor Notes (do not publish): All prices in this article come from Nairametrics' survey, not FoodPrices Nigeria data. Nairametrics reports combined figures across the four markets, not per-market prices. I left out Oloyin beans, sweet potatoes and dry onion price levels because Nairametrics gives no unit for them, and two unnamed "medium bag" and "big bag" items. I rounded Nairametrics' percentages to one decimal place under the guide's rules. If FoodPrices captured October prices at the same four markets, this story could be rewritten as a Type 4 article using FoodPrices data instead.