As the wholesale gateway for much of Lagos produce, Mile 12 Market showed sharp two-way movement in fresh items at the turn of the year. Red onions led the upside, with a big bowl rising from N4,700 in the week of January 19 to N8,250 in the week of February 2, a jump of 75.5 percent. Brown onions ran even hotter over the same fortnight, with the recorded big bowl average more than doubling, a move consistent with dry season supply tightness from the northern growing belt feeding into Lagos. Garden egg, sold as egg plant, also climbed, rising from N1,200 to N2,250 a kilogram, up 87.5 percent.
The decline side was just as striking and points to imported and cold-chain produce rather than local field crops. A 5kg crate of carrots fell from N19,550 to N10,900 across the same two weeks, a drop of 44.2 percent, and locally traded garlic eased by roughly three quarters on the recorded measure. The split is typical of Mile 12, where seasonal field vegetables and import-linked produce can move in opposite directions in the same week depending on what is arriving at the trucks.
Staples held the centre steady. A 12.5kg bag of corn stayed at N4,000 and a 50kg bag at N6,000 across both weeks. Smoked catfish, crayfish and stockfish lines were unchanged, and the bagged peppers and tomatoes that anchor soup pots barely moved, with a 50kg bag of tatashe and a 50kg bag of tomatoes each holding at N19,500. Looking across a longer window, a 50kg bag of Tomato Aroso rice edged up from N57,000 in the week of January 12 to N60,000 in the week of March 16, a gain of 5.3 percent, while a 5 litre bottle of local palm oil eased from N10,000 to N8,500, down 15.0 percent.
These readings are anchored to the weeks of January 19 and February 2, the period when Mile 12 was most fully captured, and they describe market-level averages drawn from several sellers rather than a single stall. Because Mile 12 prices feed retail floors across the city, the onion spike at the wholesale level tends to surface in neighbourhood markets a week or two later.
The fresh produce swings line up with national signals. The National Bureau of Statistics named fresh pepper, tomatoes and carrots among the items moving food prices into April 2026, when food inflation reached 16.06 percent year on year. Onion prices in particular follow a seasonal rhythm, tightening through the dry months before easing as new supply reaches the south, which fits the late January and early February surge recorded here.
Compare wholesale and retail readings across markets with the FoodPrices compare tool, look up a single item with the price check tool, or open live numbers on the Mile 12 Market price page.