Gov’t issues licences for sugar importation as local millers shut down

The government is angling to ratify, through next week’s Cabinet meeting, the decision to import sugar outside the COMESA trading bloc to cushion Kenyans who are already dipping more in their pockets for the sweetener.

President William Ruto, in an address at State House on Wednesday, said the government is shopping for sugar globally, as the supply of the commodity from priority COMESA member countries has declined on shrinking production.

This means that Kenyans are set to see a further increase in the price of sugar resulting from the excise duty slapped on sugar imports outside the trading bloc as is in the controversial Finance Act 2023, even as a two-kilogram packet crossed the Ksh.500 mark early in the week.

President Ruto intimated that the importation of the commodity, despite its harsh effects on local production, has been mooted owing to prevailing circumstances.

He added that the continued reliance on imports has since spiralled into poor performance of the subsector, which he has termed as riddled with lawlessness.

“We have been careful and methodical, and finally we have given licenses for the importation of sugar into the country. We could not open to other markets before we start with the COMESA; and now that we have ascertained that we do not have enough in the region, we have opened it to the global market, so expect the price to drop in the next one or two weeks,” the President said.

Last month, the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) declared the suspension of cane milling in the Western and Nyanza regions for a period of four months over crushing immature canes for the last six months.

The President has pointed an accusing finger at cane poachers and lawlessness for what he termed as frustrating the subsector.

“We have been reluctant to cushion farmers and we have had meetings with my economic team and the stakeholders, and finally, we now have a roadmap that we will discuss in the Cabinet next week, and I want to assure the country that we have a plan that will work for the subsector, starting with farmers,” he said.

Early this week, sugar users have had to contend with the skyrocketing cost of sugar which is now over Ksh.500 for a two-kilogram packet, with a spot-check by Citizen Digital in Nairobi’s retail shops showing the price in some shops tipped Ksh.510 for the same.

The increase in the price of sugar ostensibly sets up the cost of other products whose manufacture depends on sugar to go up.

This means that the prices of baked foods including bread, biscuits, chapati, mandazi and pharmaceutical products such as syrups could potentially go up in earnest.

In April, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria hinted that the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) had received approval to import foodstuffs, including maize, rice and sugar.

The corporation at the time had been allowed to import 200,000 tonnes of sugar to ease the prices.