Due to Russian-Ukraine War, Wheat price rises by 50%

Since the beginning of 2022, the cost of durum wheat has increased by 50% while imports have decreased by 16.9%.

This is due to the country’s dearth of foreign currency and the global wheat shortage brought on by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Tola Ogunnubi, national public relations officer for the National Wheat Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, stated: “It was selling for N27,000 to N28,000 per 100kg before the war, but it is now N41,000 to N42,000.”

In the first nine months of 2022, the importation of durum wheat into Nigeria decreased by 16.09% on an annual basis. The National Bureau of Statistics reports that the total amount of durum wheat imported into Nigeria in the first three quarters of 2022 was N753.59 billion, down N144.59 billion from the N898.19 billion imported in the same period of 2021.

According to the NBS, durum wheat is Nigeria’s main agricultural import. “The largest agricultural imports in the first quarter of 2022 included durum wheat (not in seeds) from the United States, valued at N71.56 billion, and Argentina, valued at N59.04 billion.

“The major agriculture goods imported in Q2, 2022 included ‘Durum wheat (not in seeds)’ from the United States of America with N70.67bn and Lithuania with N60.87bn. The major agriculture goods imported in Q3, 2022 included ‘Durum wheat (not in seeds)’ from the United States of America with N78.29bn and Poland with N45.62bn.”

The production of pasta, bread, noodles, and other foods requires wheat, which is used to make flour. The nation is primarily dependent on wheat imports, hence the decline in those imports has resulted in higher costs for the majority of these food items.

Ogunnubi said, “Wheat importation is decreasing but it doesn’t mean that we have achieved what sufficiency as such. We have wheat still retaining the third position in terms of commodities that engulf the highest FX. It is after refined petrol products and gas.

“Wheat is still the third highest and we are looking at a situation where we have wheat sufficiency just as we’ve had in rice. We are looking forward to the government encouraging wheat farming, and production. We are imploring the government to come into the entire value chain of wheat production. From planting processing, distribution, everything across the full value chain.”

“Wheat is fast becoming a staple food. If people are not eating maize, they are eating bread, flour, and spaghetti, which are some of the side products of wheat. So why are not sufficient?

“The crisis in Russia and Ukraine is affecting importation but that does not mean there are no other markets for importation. The durum wheat that we tend to process in Nigeria can be sourced from Mexico. It is not as if people are not looking in that direction, but the CBN is not giving foreign exchange. The CBN is not giving FX for wheat importation.”

He claims that a loaf of bread in Abuja that cost between N350 and N400 at the beginning of the year now costs N800.