A man transports a sack of maize into Kenya from Uganda at the Busia border. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- The country spent Sh20.9bn to feed itself, up from Sh13.2bn same period last year.
- Poor weather prompted subsidies and waiver of import duties between mid-May and December to smoothen purchase of such food as maize, milk powder and sugar from abroad to meet demand and ease spiking prices followed a biting drought.
- Uganda has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of food shortages in Kenya as she dethroned South Africa to become the largest exporter of goods to Nairobi on the continent last November.
Kenya’s food imports jumped 58.33 per cent in January compared
to a year earlier, reflecting last year’s deficit in production as a
result of poor rainfall.
The country’s food import bill
shot to Sh20.9 billion from Sh13.2 billion in January 2017, fresh data
by the Kenya national Bureau of Statistics shows.
“Imports
of food and beverage recorded a share of 13.27 per cent of the total
imports,” the State statistician says in the monthly Leading Economic
Indicators report.
Total imports in January stood at Sh157.50 billion compared to Sh150.74 billion the year before.
Poor weather prompted subsidies and waiver of import duties
between mid-May and December to smoothen purchase of such food as maize,
milk powder and sugar from abroad to meet demand and ease spiking
prices followed a biting drought.
Food imports more than doubled to Sh244.72 billion, representing a growth of 113.33 per cent over 2016.
Uganda
has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of food shortages in Kenya as
she dethroned South Africa to become the largest exporter of goods to
Nairobi on the continent last November.
Cargo valued at
Sh6.95 billion were trucked in from Uganda in January, official data
shows more than double the Sh2.18 billion imports a year earlier.
Kenyan
traders raided Uganda for cheaper maize from last November following a
bumper harvest of the cereal, helped by relaxation of rules on food
exports in the neighbouring nation.
Kenya’s import bill
from Uganda, largely comprising cereals, shot up nearly two-fold to a
record Sh7.59 billion last November compared to Sh2.93 billion a month
earlier.
Maize imports remained elevated through January, data from the Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC) showed earlier this month.
Maize imports remained elevated through January, data from the Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC) showed earlier this month.
A
total of 46,010 tonnes of maize were bought from Uganda in January, a
78.4 per cent jump compared with 25,791 tonnes in December.
“This
increase was due to the average second rain season harvest coupled with
the attractive prices offered in the Kenyan urban markets,” the EAGC
said in the report.
Industrial supplies, however,
accounted for the largest share of Kenya’s imports at Sh51.99 billion, a
growth of 8.22 per cent year-on-year.
Fuel imports
rose to Sh24.69 billion from Sh22.44 billion, while machinery bill fell
to Sh26.19 billion from Sh31.31 billion, the KNBS data shows.
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