Adverse weather in the U.S, Canada and Europe, has fuelled a spike in freight and has driven the wheat market out of control with prices expected to hit record highs in the short term, according to a market report by Eurostar Commodities.
Data gleaned from the UK-based commodities organisation, showed that the price of durum wheat has surged by 90 percent within the year, due to poor weather expected to affect the quality and quantity of the 2021 harvest.
Analysis of the wheat market further showed that Canada, the world's leading durum wheat producer, has witnessed extreme heat and scarce rainfall since seedling, further fuelling speculations of high prices.
Jason Bull, director of Eurostar Commodities said the wheat market is in a dire situation, particularly for importers of durum wheat across the globe as companies are buying at record high prices while farmers are holding onto wheat and pushing the price up.
"We expect to see shortages and increasing prices which will ultimately be passed onto consumers. We may also see substitutions whereby pasta will be produced with soft wheat flour rather than hard durum wheat," he noted.
Trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that Nigeria imported N258.3 billion worth of durum wheat in the first quarter of 2021. The figure surged in the second quarter of the year as import expenditure rose to N324.72 billion.
Market analysts attribute the price increment to the rising global prices, as well as insecurity challenges which continue to pose a threat to the country’s wheat output. They also forecast an increase in the third quarter of 2021 as global prices of the commodity used in the production of semolina and pasta continue to trend upward amid tightened supply.