Consumers face fresh sugar price increases
Packets of sugar being sold at a discounted rate at a supermarket in Nyeri in this picture taken on June 9, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya last week increased producers’ price of sugar cane from Sh3,833 per tonne to Sh4,112.
- This is the second time that the government has reviewed the price of sugar cane, coming as a boost to farmers.
Sugar prices are set for fresh increase in the coming days after the government raised the buying price for a tonne of sugar cane paid to farmers.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya last week increased producers’ price of sugar cane from Sh3,833 per tonne to Sh4,112, effective November 18, with millers expected to pass this cost to consumers.
Already, some of sugar brands in supermarkets, such as the Neutrameal are now selling at Sh295 for a two-kiloramme packet, having jumped 18 per cent in a span of one week.
This is the second time that the government has reviewed the price of sugar cane, coming as a boost to farmers.
The Crops (Sugar) (General) Regulations, 2020 provide for a scane pricing committee responsible for developing the pricing formula and reviewing them based on the cost of the commodity on shelves.
The rising cost of sugar and other commodities will have a negative impact on inflation as food basket is a major driver of the cost of living.
Inflation in October dropped to 6.4 per cent from 6.91 per cent a month earlier in what Kenya National Bureau of Statistics attributed to low food prices.
