Prices of food items unchanged amidst low patronage

The prices of food items in the market remained unchanged during the yuletide and as the New Year begins.

A survey by Daily Trust at Utako market revealed that a bag of rice sold for N14,000 - N16,000 while a bag of beans was N26,000, and groundnut oil sold at N12,500 a keg.

A trader in Utako market, Zaradeen Dahiru, said the price for a bag of rice varied according to brand - they included Royal Stallion and Super Tiger. Royal Stallion sold for N14,000 and Super Tiger N16,000.

Perishable goods like baskets of onions, tomato and pepper sold from N800, he said.

“If you look at Royal Stallion, it has been on high patronage and has consumer loyalty. However, the rice is no longer in existence and any of the products which you see around is repackaged and not the real rice. So the price is not the same with the Super Tiger rice,” he explained.

In the aspect of regulation, Dahiru said the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) visited the market a few occasions to inspect and ensure compliance in goods sold in the market.

He however called on the agencies to step up their game in ensuring that only standard goods are sold and that consumers are satisfied with the products sold to them.

Daily Trust observed that the reason for the unchanged price despite fuel scarcity and the hike in cost of transporting the goods was the fact that the patronage during the yuletide was relatively low, although higher than last year.

Also, some of the traders in Utako market attributed the situation to the fact that most of the suppliers of food items, especially perishable ones, have travelled home for the yuletide season, as such there were no new purchases made except for old stock that was supplied earlier.