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Oil steadies after a 3% loss on weak China data

Oil prices edged higher today, with Brent futures trading at $79pb, up 0.59% from $78.54pb in the previous trading day. The rise in Brent price was mainly driven by a weaker US dollar and expectations of tight oil supply ahead of the release of US crude stockpile data. Currently, the US dollar has lost 2.55% in one month against a basket of currencies. However, against the naira, the US dollar gained 1.20% and 1.19% as the naira trades at N827/$ (parallel market) and N832.00/$ (I & E window) respectively.

Soaring corn price forces poultry farmers to shut down

The domestic price of corn has risen to N390/tonne in July from N250/tonne a year ago due to shortages in supply amid rising demand. According to the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), the elevated price of corn has made it unsustainable to produce poultry feed and operate a poultry business. As a result, poultry farmers have begun closing down their businesses in line with expectations of a further increase in corn price due to the expiration of the Black Sea grain deal. The price of poultry feed has risen by 33.3% to N10,500/bag this month from N7,500/bag a year ago, as corn constitutes about 70% of poultry feed.

These and other burning economic issues were discussed on the Business Morning programme on Channels TV by FDC’s senior analyst, Bolanle Agbaje.

Click the link to watch the video.

Enjoy your read!