Traders have once again raised the price of a 50kg bag just months before the festive shopping season.

According to a market survey, Nigerians now buy a 50kg bag of local parboiled rice for an average of N105,000, higher than the country’s new minimum wage of N70,000. Bag of rice sells at different prices in Nigeria.

BusinessDay reports that the price of foreign parboiled rice is now N130,000 per bag.

A previous report by Legit.ng revealed that in July, a 50kg parboiled bag of rice was sold for N70,000 to N76,000 The changes in prices have been attributed to the naira depreciation.

A seller, Chinedu Eze, in the Ikotun area of Lagos, said the price rose again because they find it challenging to buy the product in the open market.

He said: "Everything depends on the dollar since most products are imported. We started seeing another price increase in early May when reports surfaced about a new rise in the dollar.

"One dollar is now above N1,700 you should expect that prices will go up."

NBS rice prices

Meanwhile, in September 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the average price of 1kg Local rice sold loose went up by 152.92% on a year-on-year basis from N757.06 in September 2023 to N1,914.77 in September 2024.

The report noted there was an increase of 4.57% on a month-on-month basis.

The report added: "Kogi recorded the highest average price of 1kg local Rice (sold loose) at N2,688.04, while the lowest was reported in Benue at N1,229.14.

"The Northeast and the southeast recorded the highest average price of 1kg of local rice (sold loose) at N2,031.96 and N2,015.92 respectively, while the lowest was recorded in the Northwest at N1,714.31."