Prices of foodstuffs have been on a decline in the first quarter (January - March 2020) according to the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on March 31.
The report showed a decrease in prices of food items such as tomatoes (6.06%), rice (0.62%), sugar (0.66%) maize flour (1.46%) and spinach (4.87%).
The price of a kilogram of tomatoes dropped to retail at Ksh 120.6, signifying a Ksh 7.79 decline from the February 2020 retail price of Ksh 128.39.
However, it is equally important to note that despite the drop in the price of a kilo of tomatoes, the same commodity was priced at Ksh 96.90 in March 2019, as per the report.
"During the same period, prices of tomatoes and spinach dropped by 6.06% and 4.87% respectively," reads a section of the report.
In February 2020, Kenyans felt the pinch as tomato prices around the country experienced a massive surge following a shortage.
The scarcity saw the price of tomatoes double and triple in some areas, posing a challenge to many families already struggling in a depressed economic environment.
A crate of tomatoes that used to sell for around Ksh 6,000 went for as much as Ksh 10,000 to Ksh 12,000 depending on the seller.
"Over the last one year, the highest increases were in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products and manufacture of beverages at 6.64% and 6.06%, respectively," reads an excerpt from the PPI report.
Another food item that sticks out from the reports is maize. During the last three months, a bale of maize flour, wheat flour, and sugar declined by 4.9%, 3.5%, and 5.7% respectively.
However, over the past 12 months, a bale of maize flour has increased significantly by 43.5%, from Ksh 978 per bale in March 2019, to the current price of Ksh 1,404 per bale.
Interestingly, the cost of living data comes at a time when KNBS has shifted to a new base period for generating a basket of goods and services from February 2010 to February 2019.
This has also seen the introduction of airtime into the 'food basket' or placed under the CPI, where it was assigned a significant weight (7.78), which could translate to communication having turned into a vital element for the majority of Kenyans or a strong indicator of an improved standard of living.
The Producer Price Index is used to measure the change over time of the average price of goods produced domestically, and consists of a weighted index of goods prices at wholesale, while iCPI measures the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.
These indices are the most widely used measure of inflation and, by proxy, of the effectiveness of the government's economic policy and can act as a guide in order to make informed decisions about the economy.
