Kenya’s Sugar Pricing Committee has applied a 14 p.c discount within the worth of sugarcane, responding to a concurrent lower in the price of the commodity on the retail market.
In the latest evaluate, the committee, mandated with periodically assessing sugarcane costs, revised the price from Ksh5,900 per tonne in March to Ksh5,100, marking one of many sharpest cuts in current months.
“The second Interim Sugar Pricing Committee held a gathering on Thursday April 4, 2024 in Kisumu. Throughout the assembly to evaluate sugarcane worth, the committee resolved that the brand new sugarcane worth shall be Ksh5,100 efficient Monday April 8,2024,” mentioned the Head of Sugar Directorate Jude Chesire in a letter to stakeholders.
Agriculture and Meals Authority cited a notable decline in retail sugar costs because the driving issue behind this adjustment.
“The sugar costs have gone down additional that’s the reason, and that is attributed to elevated manufacturing,” mentioned Mr Chesire.
Presently, a two-kilogramme sugar packet is accessible at Ksh390, down from Ksh450 in August of the earlier 12 months.
Nonetheless, information from Kenya’s statistics agency-KNBS, signifies the worth of sugar was up by 21 p.c in March.
To find out the sugarcane price, the committee considers prevailing sugar costs and ex-factory charges, aiming for equitable returns to each growers and millers.
The committee contains representatives from numerous entities, together with AFA, the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, millers, and sugar-producing counties.
The federal government had final 12 months put measures in place to tame the rising price of the sweetener out there. The intervention included boosting imports to boost native provide and enhancing the effectivity of home millers.
The decline in worth of commodity can also be attributed to elevated native sugar manufacturing after it permitted sugar factories to completely resume operations final December.
In July final 12 months, the regulatory physique imposed a four-month ban on cane milling to permit the crop within the fields to mature earlier than resuming manufacturing.
This resolution coincided with India, a serious world sugar producer, imposing export restrictions to safeguard its native shares amid a worldwide scarcity that escalated sugar costs.
