Having identified it as a staple consumed all over Nigeria, SBM commenced tracking the prices of commodities required to prepare a pot of jollof rice across the country in July 2016. The result of this tracking was called “The Jollof Index” and we have published it every quarter since then, with the exception of Q4 because of December price variations. The quarter ended June 2019 makes it three years since we began publishing. To mark the occasion, we have produced this special edition of the Jollof Index, in which we look at the trends over the last three years. For the first time in this edition we welcome Bauchi to the Index as a representative location for the North East geopolitical zone.
After a sharp rise during the 2016 recession during which inflation soared and the national average moved 24% from ₦4,087 to ₦5,072 in the space of two months, the Jollof Index has risen more gently. As of June 2019, the national average stood at ₦5,974, representing a 17% increase over three years. The Index also shows that, over the last three years, the North West and North Central markets have consistently been the most expensive places to cook a pot of jollof in Nigeria, trending above the national average, represented by the thick yellow line on the chart.
Until December 2018, Sabongeri Market in Kano had the costliest jollof index. However, from H1, 2019, Wuse 2 in Abuja took over as the costliest place to cook jollof nationwide. The South East, South South, and Lagos, consistently trend below the average.
Of the ingredients involved in cooking a pot of jollof rice, i.e. salt, seasoning, curry, thyme, pepper, tomatoes, vegetable oil, tinned tomatoes, beef, turkey, onions and rice, the prices of salt, seasoning, curry, thyme and tinned tomatoes have remained remarkably stable over the three year period, experiencing only slight variations. The key drivers of the increase in the Jollof Index were rice, beef, turkey and vegetable oil. Vegetable oil particularly proved to be most volatile, with price increasing by almost 100% in some markets across the country. Interestingly, the price of rice has been on a steady decline in all but the Abuja markets over this three year period.