Packets of Sugar in a supermarket.[Photo/Nation]
Sugar imports increased by 196 per cent in 2017 against the previous year as traders hurried to ship in duty-free commodity to bridge a local deficit.
The Sugar Directorate report shows that the volumes shipped into the country almsot tripled from 334,109 tonnes in 2016 to 989,619 tonnes.
The bulk of the sugar imports was brown/mill white type (table sugar 829,871 tonnes), representing 84 per cent of the total consignment, while the balance was industrial sugar used for manufacturing.
“The significant increase in table sugar imports is ascribed to huge importation of duty-free sugar between May and August 2017 to mitigate prevailing local shortage in the country,” says the report.
Imports were high especially from non-Comesa countries during the period as more than three quarters of the consignment was imported from Brazil.
263,990 tonnes of thesugar were imported from Comesa Free Trade Area and 627,756 tonnes was shipped in from non-Comesa region.The country imported 26,700 tonnes of sugar from East African countries last year, which is a reduction from 39,109 tonnes in the same period in 2016.
Sugar production in the country decreased by 41 per cent in the same period as factories grappled with shortage of raw material.The product quantities dropped from 377,818 in 2017 from 639,742 tonnes in in 2016 due to the drought.
Decline in production saw consumers pay exorbitant prices between January and May last year, with a kilo of the commodity recording Sh200.The prices have come back to normal after the factory price dropped as high volumes of imports increased supply in the market, cutting the price to Sh115 for a kilo.
The Treasury removed duty on imported sugar from outside Comesa in May after a severe shortage of the commodity in Kenya last year.Kenya produces about 600,000 tonnes of sugar a year, compared with annual consumption of 870,000 tonnes.