Low Demand Induced a Slump in Grain Prices on the Commodities Exchange

At the close of the trading week on the Exchange, maize dipped by 16.67% to close at N207,812 per metric tonne. Cocoa dipped the most by 20.05% closing the week at N958,049 per mt on the Exchange.

A similar trend was observed in the open market as maize maintained a 3-week bearish trend closing at N195,580/mt representing a 2.61% decline w-o-w. Soybean also witnessed a 2-week consecutive decline in price in the open market. This trajectory has been induced by a supply glut of maize and soybean in the open market amid low demand for these commodities.

Market insight reveals that inventory processors still have large inventories of these commodities and are not looking to hit the market soon, hence, it has been a buyer’s market during prior weeks. This trend is expected to continue in the coming weeks and may play a significant role in the price forecast for grains in the coming season.

For AFEX benchmark indexes, the AEI has remained stable for two consecutive weeks however, the ACI declined by 5.4%.

Market Price Performance

• On the Exchange, cocoa, paddy rice, and maize were priced lower, while soybean was priced higher gaining 0.81% W-o-W. Paddy rice, cashew, sorghum, and soybean gained 33.24%, 29.35%, 25.09% , and 5.59% respectively Y-t-D.
• In the open market, the price of Maize fell for the third consecutive week while that of soybean and sorghum fell for the second consecutive week. Y-t-D, prices of domestic commodities fell except for paddy rice, sesame, and cashew.
• International prices of commodities continued to rise except maize which fell by 0.98%. However, the Y-t-D performance shows that the commodities prices rose above their prices at the beginning of the year except for cocoa, cashew, and ginger.
• Check out other relevant details on market performance by accessing the report here.