Wheat, corn prices dip, cocoa price rises

WHEATPRICE FELL by 0.12 percent to $5.24 per bushell last week. The price drop was attributed to higher production of the commodity in the Black Sea region.

Similarly, the price of corn fell by 1.29 percent during the same period to $3.79 per bushell due to threat to the production of the crop in South America.

However, cocoa price soared $2,315 per metric ton, representing an increase of 1.94 percent despite higher prduction level in Cote d’Voire.

Meanwhile, Brent oil jumped 6% to $53.31pb after crashing below $50pb on Christmas Eve.

The sharp drop was alongside a fall in most other financial market indices.

Markets were spooked, when it was believed that Donald Trump was contemplating firing Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman.

Nigeria’s 2019 budget is predicated on a benchmark price of $60pb and is vulnerable to extreme price volatility.

This temporary recovery is not enough to allay investor concerns in Nigeria, whose trade surplus fell sharply (67%) to $1.87bn in Q3’2018.

The slides below summarize the events that took place in the domestic and global commodity markets this week.