Ranked DataFood prices · May 2026
What food costs in Nigeria, by the official numbers.
Every month the National Bureau of Statistics surveys the retail prices of staple foods across Nigeria and publishes the Selected Food Prices Watch. Ranked republishes the NBS figures with values rounded to two decimals. The prices below, and every percentage beside them, are the NBS’s own numbers from the May 2026 release. We add nothing and estimate nothing.
Source: the NBS Selected Food Prices Watch (May 2026) (publication date not stated; available from the NBS National Data Archive) · every figure verified against the official NBS tables on 8 September 2026
The short answer
Per the NBS Selected Food Prices Watch for May 2026, the national average price of 1kg of local rice was ₦1,905.43, 1kg of brown beans was ₦1,344.93, and 1kg of white garri was ₦813.24. The month’s big mover was fresh tomatoes: ₦1,560.56 per kg, up 32.48% in one month by the NBS’s own count.
Rice local (1kg)
₦1,905.43
-9.06% vs May 2025
Garri white (1kg)
₦813.24
-39.39% vs May 2025
Eggs (crate of 30)
₦6,149.18
+0.10% vs April
Biggest riser: tomatoes, fresh
+32.48%
month-on-month
National average prices · May 2026
Source table values, displayed to two decimal places. “MoM” and “YoY” are the NBS’s own month-on-month (vs April 2026) and year-on-year (vs May 2025) percentage changes. Not our arithmetic. A blank cell means we have not verified that cell against the official file, so we do not print it.
| Item | Unit | Avg price (May 2026) | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice local, short-grained | 1kg | ₦1,905.43 | +0.63% | -9.06% |
| Rice imported, long-grained | 1kg | ₦2,245.70 | +0.54% | -13.78% |
| Beans brown | 1kg | ₦1,344.93 | +0.45% | -43.61% |
| Garri white | 1kg | ₦813.24 | +0.53% | -39.39% |
| Yam tuber | 1kg | ₦2,347.09 | +5.80% | -1.19% |
| Tomatoes, fresh | 1kg | ₦1,560.56 | +32.48% | +12.05% |
| Onions, fresh | 1kg | ₦1,180.01 | +1.34% | -26.59% |
| Palm oil | 75cl | ₦2,396.62 | +0.01% | -3.17% |
| Agric hen eggs | crate of 30 | ₦6,149.18 | +0.10% | -1.83% |
| Beef, boneless | 1kg | ₦7,171.41 | +3.63% | +7.63% |
Rising prices are shown red, falling prices green (a falling food price is good news for the buyer). For items where the NBS table lists state extremes we verified: brown beans ranged from ₦760.00 (Taraba) to ₦1,941.78 (Oyo); fresh tomatoes from ₦1,017.00 (Ekiti) to ₦1,974.81 (Lagos); a crate of eggs from ₦5,637.94 (Niger) to ₦7,020.00 (Taraba).
Methodology
The numbers, defined
- National average price
- The NBS collects retail prices of selected food items across Nigerian states each month and publishes the national average per item, alongside the highest and lowest state averages and breakdowns by geopolitical zone. The figures on this page are those published national averages, transcribed from the official XLSX tables in the May 2026 release ZIP.
- MoM / YoY change
- The month-on-month and year-on-year percentage changes as computed and published by the NBS itself. We reproduce them rather than recomputing, so this page always says exactly what the bureau said.
- Why your market may differ
- A national average flattens enormous state-level spread. In May 2026, 1kg of fresh tomatoes averaged ₦1,974.81 in Lagos but ₦1,017.00 in Ekiti, nearly a 2× gap for the same item in the same month. Use these figures as a benchmark, not a price list, and compare on-the-ground options in Ranked’s directory of markets and supermarkets near you.
- What Ranked does not do
- Ranked republishes NBS figures with display rounding and links the primary release. We do not survey prices ourselves, adjust for inflation, or fill gaps with estimates. A widely syndicated press error illustrates why: several outlets ran ₦808.96 as May’s white garri price, but the official table shows that is April’s figure. May’s is ₦813.24. We publish from the file, not the paraphrase.
This page retains the May 2026 edition, checked against the original workbook on 8 September 2026. The source archive does not state an edition-specific publication date. A retrieval date does not make the figures current. See also the petrol price tracker; for what moving around costs, see transport fares.
Sources and measurement notes
Retrieved and checked: . Transcription of original workbook cells: B prior year, C prior month, D reporting month, E MoM%, F YoY%, G/H state extremes. Values are displayed rounded to two decimals; percentages come from the source cells.
- NBS Selected Food Price Watch, May 2026: original release ZIP
Publication date: not stated for this edition. The archive identifies the May 2026 edition but does not supply an edition-specific publication date. The catalog's January 2025 metadata date is not this report's release date.
Where to check: selected food table May 26.xlsx; sheet Selected Food May 2026; rows 3, 4, 6, 16, 26, 27, 30, 31, 39, 43; columns B–H.
- These are May 2026 national averages, not today's prices or quotes from a specific shop. State extremes are state averages.
- The biggest month-on-month rise refers only to the ten items displayed here, not the entire NBS collection.