As
Christmas and New Year celebrations come nearer, prices of various food
items such as grains, beverages, perishables and wines have gone up.
A market survey conducted by NIGERIAN FACTORS revealed that a bag of rice is
now sold for N10, 000 compared to the previous amount of N8,000, while
beans maintains its cost of about N11,000 to N13000 since its initial
rise before the month of the Muslims fasting in August.
It was also learnt that tomatoes which
had risen in prices since June this year, hasn’t reduced as a basket
still goes for N7,000 compared to N20,00 it was sold for at the
beginning of 2012 to mid year.
Speaking about the situation, the
Iyaloja of Owutu market in Lagos, Mrs. Riskat Gbadeyanka attributed
rising cost of food items to various factors apart from the Yuletide
season.
According to her, the usual end of the
year rush and Christmas celebrations might not be ruled out but the
situation is worsened by high cost of transportation to move the items
from one part of the country to another.
She explained that for instance, traders
who usually bring perishables from the North are facing challenges to
access some of the northern states where they usually buy tomatoes,
onions and other items due to the security trend. Gbadeyanka stated that
due to the above reason, some traders have stopped going up North now
to bring those items.
She said that based on that the demand is higher than supply which makes the available items to be sold at higher cost.
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