Costly maize pushes flour prices up as millers await word on Mexico imports

The shelf price of maize flour continues to rise due to a severe shortage of raw material, even as millers wait for a word from government on importation of the grain from Mexico.

Price of a two-kilogramme packet of maize flour has risen steadily in the last one month and currently some of the brands such as Soko cost Sh130 at Nakumatt and Tuskys, up from Sh120 a week ago.

Increase in the flour price has been attributed to high cost of procuring maize, which forms 80 per cent of the total cost of production, with a 90-kilogramme bag now trading at Sh3,700 from Sh3,500 a week earlier.

The situation, according to millers, could get out of hand given the government’s indecisiveness, which means it could take longer for maize imports to arrive.

“It will take at least 45 days for the stocks to arrive in the country if it is coming from Mexico and by then things would have gotten out of hand,” said millers in a statement.

Kenya normally imports maize from Uganda and Tanzania to bridge the deficit in production. Tanzania has restricted export of the grain while Uganda did not register a good crop in the last season, with the little that is available finding its way to South Sudan where it fetches a premium.

Apart from the two countries, Kenya also imports maize from Malawi and Zambia.

However, the countries have recorded a poor crop too in the last two seasons owing to a serious dry spell that cut production.

READ: Kenya eyes Mexican maize as neighbours block exports

Inflation hit an 11-month high in January pushed up by higher food prices, latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows. Inflation stood at 6.99 per cent, up from 6.35 per cent in December.

Food takes up the largest share (36 per cent) of the basket of goods used to calculate inflation, making it the main driver of the cost of living.

The ministries of Devolution, Agriculture and Treasury had jointly formed a team to come up with a report on the planned importation of maize and it was supposed to have already given the report to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

However, the meeting did not take place as Agriculture Cabinet secretary Willy Bett was away in Uganda, with sources at Kilimo House, the ministry’s headquarters in Nairobi, saying that he had gone to find out if the country has stocks.

President Kenyatta was given a preliminary report of the current drought situation in the country last month.

The government projects the number of those affected by hunger will rise from 1.5 million of October last year to two million at the end of this month.