The widest trading margin in this week's Lagos grain data sits on a single paint of beans. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems market survey for the week of 17 July 2026 records Beans (Drum) at ₦2,500 per paint at Fresh Food Hub Mushin and ₦5,200 at Epe Main Market. Nine markets reported, the Lagos average is ₦4,322, and the dearest quote is 108% above the cheapest.
One Outlier and a Tight Cluster Above It
Fresh Food Hub Mushin stands alone at the bottom, 42.2% below the Lagos average. Every other market in the survey trades between ₦4,000 and ₦5,200. Mile 12 Market quotes ₦4,000, Agbalata Market ₦4,100, and Mushin Market and Sabo Market Yaba both ₦4,300. Ile-Epo Market follows at ₦4,500, then Oyingbo Market and Ajah Market at ₦5,000 each before Epe closes the table. Eight of the nine markets sit inside a ₦1,200 band, which makes the ₦2,500 quote the single most valuable piece of information in the dataset for anyone buying in volume.
A Flat Week Resting on a Rising Month
Week to week, beans barely moved. The Lagos average went from ₦4,320 in the prior survey to ₦4,322, a rise of 0.1%. The four week comparison is sharper, with the average up from ₦4,090 to ₦4,322, a 5.7% climb. Measured from 9 January the price is 0.6% lower, so beans have effectively returned to where they started the year after a mid-year climb. That direction matches the national picture. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that food inflation rose to 17.52% year on year in June 2026 even as headline inflation eased, and Vanguard noted that cowpea was among the specific items driving that increase. Sahara Reporters put the month on month food inflation figure at 3.75% in June, up from 2.98% in May.
The Supply Chain Behind the Margin
Beans reach Lagos from northern producing states, and that corridor has been under strain through the 2026 planting season. BusinessDay reported sustained attacks across Plateau and Benue at the height of the season, with farmers unable to reach fields without escorts. Daily Post documented armed groups imposing levies on farming communities in Katsina and Sokoto before cultivation could begin. The All Farmers Association of Nigeria told Leadership that fertiliser, seed and labour costs had all risen this season, and the same report carried FAO projections that about 35 million Nigerians could face acute hunger during the June to August lean period.
Freight Is the Other Half of the Spread
Distance from the supply corridor helps explain why Epe, at the eastern edge of Lagos, carries the highest quote. Transport costs have moved sharply since the survey week. Politics Nigeria reported petrol reaching ₦1,400 per litre in parts of the country in late July after Dangote refinery raised its ex-depot price by 13.02% to ₦1,215, while Legit.ng reported Bonny Light crude crossing $100 per barrel against a 2026 budget benchmark of $64.85. Diesel matters more than petrol for food haulage, and Legit.ng noted that diesel powers the heavy trucks that move food between regions. None of that fed into the 17 July numbers, which is the point worth watching in the next survey.
The Island Line and the Category Around It
Ajah Market, at ₦5,000, is the only market on the Ajah and Lekki axis that reported a Beans (Drum) price this week. Against a mainland average of ₦4,238, that works out to an 18% island premium. Within the wider beans category, Beans (Oloyin) averaged ₦4,820 per paint and ₦1,062 per derica in the same survey, placing the drum variety 10.3% below Oloyin at paint level.
Nigeria's minimum wage is ₦70,000 a month. Buying a paint of Beans (Drum) at Fresh Food Hub Mushin rather than Epe Main Market saves ₦2,700, which is 3.9% of that monthly wage on one purchase of a protein staple. FoodPrices Nigeria will keep tracking whether the ₦2,500 quote holds or converges toward the rest of the market. Live prices: foodprices.ng/real-time-prices