Afex Commodities Index (ACI) Maintains its Price Levels

The AFEX Commodities Index composite retained its performance this week closing at 249.47 points. This is as a result of reduced trades on the Exchange as maize, soybean, paddy rice, ginger and sorghum experienced no change in the week under review while cocoa experienced an uptick by 0.93%

Last week, a flood destroyed about 25% of the paddy rice harvest in Kebbi State (the centre of rice production in Nigeria). This is expected to lead to an increasing strain on the domestic supply of the commodity as the Federal Government still takes a strong stand on the restriction of food importation into the country, thus the price of paddy rice is expected to increase as it is one of the go-to staple foods in Nigeria

Furthermore, the CBN approved the importation of 262,000 tons of maize into the country, as the excess demand led to an increase in the price of the commodity and consequently an increase in the price of poultry feed. This action was taken by CBN as poultry farmers were on the losing side of the maize importation ban.