Rice came down hard at Mushin Market over the first quarter of 2026. A 50kg bag of Nigerian manufactured rice sold for N75,000 in the week of January 26 and dropped to N54,000 by the week of March 16, a decline of 28.0 percent. The 25kg bag moved in step, from N35,000 to N27,000, a fall of 22.9 percent. Imported grades softened too. A 50kg bag of imported long grain rice eased from N80,000 in the week of January 26 to N71,000 in the week of February 16, down 11.3 percent, while short grain over the same weeks slipped from N75,000 to N68,000, a drop of 9.3 percent. For a trader restocking by the bag, the local rice move alone freed up N21,000 against the late January price.
Beans pulled in the opposite direction. A 50kg bag of Oloyin beans at Mushin rose from N55,000 in the week of February 16 to N65,000 in the week of March 16, an increase of 18.2 percent. Garri moved up as well, with a 50kg bag of white garri climbing from N18,000 in the week of January 19 to N22,000 by the week of February 16, a gain of 22.2 percent. Beef tracked higher over a shorter window, a kilogram of cow meat rising from N6,000 to N7,000 between the weeks of January 19 and January 26, up 16.7 percent. Tomato Aroso rice, a milled local grade, ran with the wider rice retreat, falling from N71,000 a 50kg bag in the week of February 16 to N60,000 in the week of March 16, a decline of 15.5 percent.
The rice decline shows up cleanly in same-week cross-market readings. In the week of March 16, Mushin's N54,000 bag of local rice matched Mile 12 Market to the naira at N54,000, confirming the move was market-wide rather than local to one trading floor. Oloyin beans told a similar story that week, with Mushin and Mile 12 both at N65,000 a 50kg bag, while Lekki-Jakande Market sat N12,000 higher at N77,000 for the same grade.
The forces behind the rice slide are national. BusinessDay has reported a paddy price slump pressuring farmers, alongside a federal cut in the bulk rice import duty to 47.5 percent from 70 percent and the reopening of land borders, both of which point to heavier imported supply. The United States Department of Agriculture projected a seven percent cut in Nigeria's rice planting area for the 2026 and 2027 season, citing low prices and high production costs. Against that backdrop the National Bureau of Statistics recorded food inflation of 16.06 percent for April 2026 and named beans and garri among the items pushing the index up, the same two categories rising at Mushin while rice fell.
Track grain direction on the grain price index, test the spread between rice grades and markets with the FoodPrices compare tool, or view live numbers on the Mushin Market price page.