Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi on Wednesday, May 24, announced that the government will import 180,000 tonnes of sugar to cushion Kenyans from high sugar prices.
For adequate availability of the product in the country, Linturi, while speaking to the media, stated that the government had made a decision to import outside the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
This, he noted was a result of a severe shortage of the commodity in the member states, pushing the prices up.
According to Linturi, the decision was reached despite the expectation of the millers in the country to provide sufficient sugar for consumption.
Further, Linturi stated that the import will ensure that sugar prices go down as it will reduce the strain on sugar availability for retailers.
“Because of the problem of sugar prices in the market, we are going to authorise the importation of 180,000 metric tonnes into the country to cushion sugar consumers from high rocketing prices of sugar in the country.
“It is unfortunate because we should be crashing sugar from within the country that should be able to sustain our market,” Linturi stated.
The government previously imported the product from within the member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
According to a report by Agriculture and Food Authority, the amount of sugar produced by local millers in the month of March dropped from 49,372 metric tonnes to 31,970 metric tonnes in April 2023.
The reduction saw local factories deplete their stocks from 10,844 metric tonnes to 8,023 metric tonnes between the months of March and April.
Earlier on Sunday, May 21, retailers cautioned that there was an unexpected sugar shortage in the country stating that it was the reason for the increase in the prices of a two-kilogram packet of the commodity from Ksh300 to Ksh415 to Ksh470 in over a week.
According to the retailers, they were forced to pass on the extra cost they incurred while purchasing the commodity to the consumers despite the high cost of living.
However, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) claimed that some traders placed exaggerated prices on the commodity because of the shortage, causing some consumers to buy sugar in bulk.
The move came against the backdrop of the continued crackdown on traders and government officials distributing condemned sugar in different parts of the country.
Detectives on Tuesday, May 23, seized more than 60 bags of contaminated sugar and arrested a shopkeeper accused of being part of the cartel that illegally released the product in Riverside, Nairobi.
Additionally, on Monday, May 22, detectives nabbed a syndicate in Kisii that repackaged condemned sugar from Tanzania and Uganda into sacks labelled Mara, Sony and other local popular brands.
