February sugar output falls 16pc on cane shortage

Sugar production dropped by 16 per cent in February compared with last year as cane shortage hurt production.

An industry report for the month indicates production fell from 126,362 tonnes registered last year to 104,907 tonnes in the period under review.

Three private millers —Butali, Transmara and West Kenya — controlled most of the production.

Mumias Sugar #ticker:MSC, in which the government has a 20 per cent stake, registered dismal production at a mere 3,023 tonnes attributed to cane shortage.

“In the period January- February 2017, the sugar industry reported a decrease of 16 per cent in production to attain 104,907 tonnes compared with 124,362 tonnes achieved in the same period last year,” says the report.

According to the directorate, total sugar sales in January - February 2017 were 104,893 tonnes compared to 112,820 tonnes sold in the same period 2016, a decrease of seven per cent.

Sugar stocks at the factory dropped by 28 per cent a week ago prompting retailers to ration to their customers even as major brands of the commodity in supermarkets were conspicuously missing on the shelf.

A recent report on sugar status by Sugar Directorate indicates that there will be a shortage of 1.9 million tonnes of sugarcane in 2016/2017 fiscal year, creating a huge deficit of raw material.

The report indicates that Mumias had projected availability of 917,141 tonnes of cane between July and June 2016. However, between July and October, the miller had only managed to crush 91,260.

Kenya is a sugar deficit country and relies on imports to meet the annual demand by importing about 300,000 tonnes of the commodity from regional countries. Agriculture and Food Authority has also blamed low production on aging State-owned mills.