…As markets witness increased supply
Contrary to fears of shortage in supply and subsequent hike in prices of food items in Lagos State due to the crisis in some of the northern states, the food market is now recording increased supply.
Speaking with CityFile about the market condition, Mohamed Abdul, general- secretary, Perishable Foodstuff Traders, at the popular Mile 12 Market, said the market was flooded with goods after the one-week strike that paralysed activities in the country.
Abdul lamented the losses incurred by traders due to the excessive supply which crashed the prices of goods thus making them to sell below cost price.
He said, “You know, when there is too much supply, the price goes down and when supply is less it goes up. So immediately after the strike, the prices of food stuffs dropped and the traders as well as truck owners incurred losses. For instance, a trader that has a truck load of tomatoes with 500 baskets bought for N1500 each, after adding the cost of loading and transportation, the cost of a basket amounted to about N2, 500, then in Lagos he sold it from N3,000 to as low as N500, you can see that it is a huge loss.”
While the traders ran into losses as they sold off their goods to avoid total decay, they also had the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) to contend with as their trucks spilled over to the roads causing obstruction.
However, to address the problem of congestion, Abdul said they have resorted to parking some of their trucks at Ibafo, in Ogun State, to call them in for offloading when enough space have been created as other truck conclude theirs.
“The problem we have with government is that the trucks came at once after the strike and this place was not enough for all of them. So, we provided somewhere at Ibafo, Ogun State , so that the market would be cleared before we allow others to come. If you check now, you will not see a single truck along the road; we ensured that they no longer park there,” he explained.
He assured the commitment of the leadership of the traders to ensure their activities in the market do not constitute nuisance to traffic in the state.
While stressing that the crisis in some parts of the North has not affected food supply in the state, Abdul reiterated that they have normal supply from other parts of the region like Zaria , Katsina, Sokoto.
According to him, any slight reduction in food supply that may be currently experienced in the state is due to the withdrawal of supply by some of the traders who incurred losses after the strike. He added that they also had to contact some of their suppliers to suspend further supplies to allow them some time to sell off their goods.
“There is reduction in supply of food items like tomatoes but it is not connected to the violence in some parts of the North, it is rather because of the lost the traders incurred that made some of them to withdraw from supplying and also we informed them to wait due to lack of adequate space for the goods in the market,” the secretary general disclosed.
Other traders, who spoke with CityFile, confirmed that they have been getting normal supply from the North but complained of poor patronage in spite of the drop in price. This, they attributed to low purchasing power by consumers which is common in January.
Peter Udoh, a yam seller in Ketu, said despite that the prices of food stuff have reduced compared to the period before the strike (festive period), the market is still very dull. He maintained that they have enough stock to serve the Lagos market.
At Ijora Market, cattle, goat and fowl sellers were not having a good time either compared to how it was three to four weeks ago. Despite drastic reduction in the prices of the animals, people are not willing to buy.
Adamu Rabiu, a goat seller told CityFile that the price of the animals has dropped such that a goat that was formerly sold for N40, 000 has dropped to between N20, 000 and N30, 000. A ram that was hitherto sold for N60, 000 is now sold at about N35, 000, while chicken of N1, 500 has dropped to between N900 and N1, 000.
