Sugar imports more than doubled in June to 41,600 tonnes from 19,573 tonnes the previous month.
The surge in imports helped to lower the ex-factory price to an average Sh5,850 per 50kg bag or Sh117 a kilo in June from Sh7,292 per bag or Sh145.84 a kilo the previous month.
A sharp rise in sugar imports since June has helped lower prices of the commodity even as local millers battle the effects of cane shortage.
Sugar imports more than doubled in June to 41,600 tonnes from 19,573 tonnes the previous month, data by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) showed.
The surge in imports helped to lower the ex-factory price to an average Sh5,850 per 50kg bag or Sh117 a kilo in June from Sh7,292 per bag or Sh145.84 a kilo the previous month.
This is an equivalent of a 20 per cent drop in the ex-factory price of sugar between May and June alone.
AFA director-general Alfred Busolo however said the prices of the commodity have dropped further as more imports entered the market.
“We are currently talking of about Sh100 to Sh110 per kilo,” Mr Busolo told the Business Daily.
“Our local production was low and that is why we rely on imports and more imports mean more sugar hence the low prices.”
Mr Busolo said the sweetener’s prices are allocated by retailers based on availability, thus a price drop is expected.
Local sugar production in the first six months of the year dropped 40 per cent compared with the same period in 2016 as cane shortage took a heavy toll on production.
