Tomato jumps 32% in May as NBS food watch shows staples rising month-on-month

The newest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Selected Food Price Watch points to a broad May rebound across everyday food items, with tomatoes doing most of the damage. The official May 2026 file puts the national average for fresh tomatoes at ₦1,560.56 per kilogram, up 32.48% month-on-month from April and 12.05% higher than May 2025.

That makes tomatoes the clearest pressure point in the latest retail food basket. NBS recorded Lagos as the most expensive state average for tomatoes at ₦1,974.81/kg, while Ekiti was the lowest at ₦1,017.00/kg. For shoppers, the national average hides a large state gap: the Lagos figure was almost double the Ekiti average in the same survey month.

Staples rose, but many are still below last year

The May report was not only about tomatoes. Several Opaindex-tracked staples moved higher from April, even where annual comparisons are still negative.

Brown beans averaged ₦1,344.93/kg, a 0.45% monthly rise but still 43.61% below May 2025. White garri averaged ₦813.24/kg, up 0.53% from April and 39.39% lower year-on-year. Fresh onions averaged ₦1,180.01/kg, up 1.34% on the month and 26.59% lower than a year earlier.

Rice also edged up. Local short-grain rice averaged ₦1,905.43/kg, up 0.63% month-on-month and 9.06% lower year-on-year, while imported long-grain rice averaged ₦2,245.70/kg, up 0.54% on the month and 13.78% lower than May 2025. Yam tuber averaged ₦2,347.09, rising 5.80% from April while sitting 1.19% below its year-earlier level.

Palm oil and eggs were flatter

Not every item moved sharply. Palm oil was nearly unchanged at ₦2,396.62 for 75cl, up only 0.01% from April and 3.17% lower year-on-year. A crate of 30 agric hen eggs averaged ₦6,149.18, up 0.10% on the month and 1.83% lower than May 2025.

The split matters because food inflation can feel uneven inside the same household basket. Tomato-heavy meals faced a much sharper monthly shock than baskets anchored around palm oil or eggs.

What this means for the Opaindex food basket

The May data is a useful official benchmark for the live price pages Opaindex tracks. Readers can compare the NBS national averages with current market pages for tomato, brown beans, white garri, onion, local rice and yam. The article numbers are point-in-time national survey averages; the linked commodity pages carry their own asOf dates, source labels and confidence notes.

The headline signal is that food prices were no longer easing month-on-month in May, even though many staples remained cheaper than they were a year earlier. For households, that distinction is practical: a lower annual comparison does not stop a weekly shop from getting more expensive if the most-used items rise from one month to the next.

Source and methodology

The figures above come from the NBS Selected Food Price Watch May 2026 release, published in the NBS microdata catalog on 25 June 2026. The catalog describes the Food Price Watch process as a national retail-price exercise collected across the 774 local government areas, using 10,000 respondents and locations, and verified by the NBS audit team.

That makes the report the official national benchmark for retail food prices, not a single-market quote. Opaindex uses it as a dated reference point alongside live commodity pages, so readers can see both the official survey average and the latest tracked market price where available.