Nigeria Food Prices July 2025: Onion Crisis and the 30% Summer Spike
July 2025 brought a painful onion price surge — a 30% spike driven by Kebbi State supply disruptions. National food inflation climbed back to 22.74% as the summer seasonality pattern reasserted itself.
NaijaMarket Intel Research Team
NaijaMarket Intel
July 2025: When Onions Cost More Than Protein
July is historically a volatile month for Nigerian food markets. The June rains have peaked, transport conditions on major roads can deteriorate, and some producing regions experience a supply trough between the off-season and main harvest.
In July 2025, onions delivered the month's headline shock.
The Onion Surge
| Commodity | July 2025 | June 2025 | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onions (kg) | ~₦2,600 | ~₦2,100 | +23.8% | +26.3% |
| Tomatoes (kg) | ₦1,380 | ₦1,410 | −2.1% | −5.8% |
| Brown Beans (kg) | ~₦2,050 | ~₦2,150 | −4.7% | −26.7% |
| White Garri (kg) | ~₦1,130 | ~₦1,120 | +0.9% | −5.0% |
| Local Rice (kg) | ₦1,955 | ₦1,948 | +0.4% | +0.6% |
National food inflation: 22.74%
Why Onions Spiked
Kebbi State produces a significant proportion of Nigeria's dry-season onion supply. In July 2025, a combination of factors hit Kebbi supply simultaneously:
- Flooding on access roads cut off some farming communities
- Armed group activity in parts of the Kebbi–Sokoto border area delayed harvesting
- Northern trade routes were temporarily disrupted
Kano and Kaduna consumers were partly buffered by local supply alternatives. Lagos, Abuja, and southern markets bore the full brunt of the supply reduction.
At Daleko Market in Lagos, onion traders described chaotic conditions: "People are coming and not buying. They are looking at the price, shaking their head and going away. When onion reach this price, something is wrong."
The Regional Split
The onion spike illustrated again how differently price shocks hit Nigerian regions:
- Lagos: Retail onion prices hit ₦3,200–3,500/kg at peak
- Kano: Retail prices approximately ₦1,800–2,000/kg (local supply partially compensated)
- Port Harcourt: ₦3,000–3,400/kg (fully dependent on northern supply)
This 60–80% price gap between Lagos and Kano for the same onions, at the same time, is a persistent feature of Nigerian commodity markets — and the core reason real-time regional price intelligence has commercial value.
Beans Continues Falling
Against the onion drama, beans quietly continued its descent. The July 2025 reading of approximately ₦2,050/kg was a continuation of the trend that had begun in April. The decline was not yet dramatic enough to capture headlines, but traders watching closely could see where it was heading.
The beans-to-rice price ratio — historically 1:1 to 1.2:1 — had collapsed. At July 2025 prices, beans cost roughly 1.05× the price of rice, compared to the 2024 peak when beans cost nearly 1.5× rice prices. The ratio was normalising.
Data: NBS Selected Food Price Watch July 2025; Nairametrics market surveys.
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