The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has listed cooking oil among commodities whose prices have increased over the last month from January to February.
KNBS, in its monthly survey report published on Friday, February 28, also listed sugar, tomatoes, onions, kale, milk, beef, local flight, miraa and mutton among commodities whose prices also increased.
The bureau revealed that the prices of sugar, cooking oil and tomatoes increased by 3.2 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent while the prices of onions and kale rose by 1 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.
Similarly, the prices of milk, beef and local flights surged by 0.3 per cent, 0.2 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively while the prices of miraa and mutton increased by 4.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
According to KNBS, the increase in the price of the ten items consequently resulted in an increase in the level of inflation from 3.3 per cent in January to 3.5 per cent in February.
“Overall year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 3.5 per cent, in February 2025; an increase from an inflation rate of 3.3 per cent recorded in January 2025,” KNBS noted.
“The annual inflation was mainly due to an increase in prices of commodities under the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions,” the survey report added.
Additionally, KNBS listed six commodities whose prices went down during the same period. Items whose prices dropped include beans, maize flour, cabbage, potatoes, wheat flour and electricity.
As per the survey, the prices of beans, maize flour and cabbage dropped by 0.5 per cent, 0.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively while the prices of potatoes, wheat flour and 200 watts of electricity reduced by 1.8 per cent, 2.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Methodology of the Survey
The survey involves the collection of retail prices for the compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is usually conducted during the second and third weeks of every month.
Prices of different commodities are collected from selected retail outlets located in 50 data collection zones. Out of the 50 data collection zones, 14 are located in Nairobi County while 36 are located in other urban areas.
According to KNBS, Nairobi zones cover outlets in lower-income, middle-income and upper-income areas.
