Offloading bags of imported sugar at the port of Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- The volume of the sweetener imported has dropped to an average of 7,000 tonnes a month from highs of 29,000 tonnes under ordinary circumstances.
- Normally, Kenya is allowed to import 350,000 tonnes of sugar annually from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), which is spread across the year to about 30,000 tonnes monthly.
Sugar imports have dropped by 75 per cent as the regulator moves
in to control the volume shipped in the country to protect local
millers who are currently holding huge stocks.
Data
from the Sugar Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture shows the
volume of the sweetener imported has dropped to an average of 7,000
tonnes a month from highs of 29,000 tonnes under ordinary circumstances.
Normally,
Kenya is allowed to import 350,000 tonnes of sugar annually from the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), which is spread
across the year to about 30,000 tonnes monthly.
“We are
regulating the imports coming in the country to ensure that the volumes
that we license in a month are manageable so that we do not affect the
local millers,” said Solomon Odera, head of Sugar Directorate.
The National Treasury scrapped duty on the commodity last year
following a sharp decline in production that saw the price of sugar go
up to Sh400 per two kilo packet, allowing traders to import more than
900,000 tonnes of the commodity.
Mr
Odera said they cannot lock out imports from Comesa region because it
will be a violation of the business bloc agreement that allows other
countries to export sugar to Kenya.
Millers have been
claiming that the directorate has been allowing more sugar in the
country, a move that has seen them stuck with huge volumes of sugar in
the factories.
A report from the directorate showed the
volume held by millers last month grew from 12,000 in January to hit
13,224 in February.
No comments :
Post a Comment