Kenya’s annual sugar deficit grows to one million tonnes!
Kenya is allowed to import up to 350,000 tonnes of sugar from the COMESA bloc
Sugar-Importation-Kenya/Image Courtesy
By Joseph Waweru
The government is on its way to import 180,000 tonnes of sugar in a bid to reduce the sugar shortage that is currently facing the country.
Kenya relies on imported sugar to meet its annual deficit which has now grown to one million against production of 800,000 tonnes annually.
Kenya is allowed to import up to 350,000 tonnes of sugar from the COMESA bloc to bridge the annual local deficit. By December last year The regional trade bloc Comesa granted Kenya a nine months extension to limits on sugar imports.
Recently, the price of sugar has increased from ksh160 to ksh220 per Kg making it difficult for many Kenyans to afford.
This hike is as a result of the local and global sugarcane shortage and speculations of the Finance Bill 2023 to introduce a new tax on sugar which ought to make Kenyans pay 32% more than previous month to access the food additive.
Besides sugar, the government is also scaling up the imports of other essential commodities duty-free in a bid to address the high cost of living.
However,High profile individuals have been charged for stealing condemned sugar valued at Sh20,064,000,
A Consignment of 20,000 bags of sugar had been held in Mombasa since 2018 awaiting destruction after it was found unfit for human consumption.
Among the suspects were the Kenya Bureau of Standards’ former Managing Director Bernard Njiraini and Chrispus Waithaka.
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