NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 24 – A kilo of sugar dropped by Sh5 in November last year on the back of rising imports from abroad.
Data from the Agriculture and Food Authority’s Sugar Directorate shows that a kilogram retailed at Sh213 in November 2023, down from Sh218 in the preceding month.
In November, for instance, Kenya imported 90,759 metric tonnes (MT) of sugar, which was a 51 percent jump to 59,985 MT from October.
The imports consisted of 72,116 MT of table sugar and 18,643 MT of white refined sweetener.
Last year, the government approved the importation of sugar to stabilize market prices due to soaring prices.
Shipping of the commodities into the country also helped lower the wholesale price of a 50-kilo of sugar by three percent to Sh8,867.
The report, which gives a comparative analysis of industry performance in the period between January and November 2022 and 2023, also shows that sugarcane milled by factories increased by four percent to 267,691 MT in November from 257,383 MT in October.
The weighted ex-factory sugar price for November 2023 further made a slight drop to Sh8,709 from Sh8,986 per 50 kg bag in October and Sh9,317 in September.
