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  • February 07, 2022
Happening in the Nigeria Rice Market

We have taken several weeks to examine updates on the Rice market. If you are not part of that update and not in the food/Agric spacel, join here.

Three weeks ago we examine the inflation figure.

The result is out. What is the real assessment for me? You ask?

This last week is full of dips. Several stocks and values are wiped off. Commodity prices are also not being friendly. We could say it is a correction in the stock market, but what about the commodity market that concerns all of us directly?

  • December Inflation figure is out and just has said on our previous update here after a downward streak for consecutive eight months. December breaks that trend, and like always food inflation leads that opposite trajectory. But the important thing I would like to talk about here is that though we are not sure of the authenticity of the NBS result, we must, however, note that this figure is for the previous month. As customers and businesses, we live in an ever-changing economic reality.
  • What is in this for me? The food sub-index grew by 17.37% year on year. We wouldn’t go into the details of this but it’s worth mentioning that food prices rose by 2.19% from last month, November 2021. This then will lead to a demand push-back which can be reflected on every market such as the stock market. Hence, a crash or correction in price to reflect the true value of the stock. Price crash is however more difficult to occur in the food market because of different constraints facing the supply of food. In the absence of immediate fall in prices of food, painfully we need more money to buy the same food items.

2 Weeks Ago (The Reign of Local Rice)

New Dawn in Rice Market: Is Nigerian Rice becoming the king?

Rice is perhaps the most consumed staple food in Nigerian households. Hence constant attention is given to happenings in the rice market. You become happier when you spend less to consume better quality rice than otherwise.

  • Recently, it seems stricter regulation is placed on rice importation by the government, while it introduces more strategies to ensure that the people develop taste for Nigeria rice. Will the 1 million bags of rice unveiled last week have any impact?
  • First, the rice pyramid is no small feat but they are paddy rice, not processed rice. On the contrary, the prices of foreign rice are on the high side because the demand is more than supply. Foreign rice has increased by about 40% in the last 2 months, especially imported short-grain rice. It is telling that with limited options, people are gradually embracing our processed Nigeria rice whose price has also increased slightly because of more demand

Last week we discussed the Scarcity of Rice!

The third week of talking about rice, huh what again?

Given the luxury of choice between foreign rice and Nigerian rice, which will be your pick?

  • It is a no-brainer that your choice would be obvious a few months ago. Our pots, plates, and then our stomachs had always been filled with foreign rice more than the Nigeria rice. However, the story is changing in favour of Nigerian rice. The popular adage that there is no forever champion is coming true in the rice market.
  • Foreign rice is becoming increasingly difficult to come by. It is much scarcer. It is getting more expensive, and many buyers cannot put up with this in the face of cheaper and more readily available Nigeria rice. So, for how long are we going to have the demand for Nigeria rice growing, while that of foreign rice shrinking? Time will tell. But before then Nigeria rice is also not slowing down (about 10% increase in 3 weeks)
Optimum (Fortune Rice)

We hope this common staple can receive some stability. There could be stricter regulation on rice smuggling so that the Nigeria factory rice can find its true price and to have enough to feed the nation.

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