The current average price of a 70 kilogramme bag of dairy meal is Sh2,700, having already jumped from Sh2,000 a year ago.
Layers mash is going for Sh4,000 from Sh3,200, broiler starter mash Sh4,750 from Sh4,200 while pig feed is averaging Sh3,000, up from Sh2,400.
Manufacturers will increase the price of feeds by up to Sh400 starting this week for a 70-kilo bag following a sharp rise in the cost of maize and delays in the importation of the yellow variety in the country, setting the stage for costlier eggs and meat.
The current average price of a 70 kilogramme bag of dairy meal is Sh2,700, having already jumped from Sh2,000 a year ago. Layers mash is going for Sh4,000 from Sh3,200, broiler starter mash Sh4,750 from Sh4,200 while pig feed is averaging Sh3,000, up from Sh2,400.
The Association of Kenya Animal Feeds Manufacturers (Akefema) says the price of maize has jumped to Sh4,300 for a 90 kilogramme bag from Sh3,700 previously, making it costly to process the feeds.
Addressing a news conference in Nairobi on Monday, the association’s secretary-general Martin Kinoti said the rising cost of white maize has been caused by stiff competition between animals and humans for the commodity amid a shortage in supply at the market.
Mr Kinoti said the delay in publishing the revised directive that will allow millers to import yellow maize that has traces of genetically modified organisms (GMO) of up to 0.9 percent has also contributed to the rising cost.
“The price of a 70 kilogramme bag of animal feeds will be going up by between Sh300 to Sh400 because of the scarcity in the market at the moment amid pressure on white maize,” said Mr Kinoti.
The delay in publishing the changes, which will lower levels of GMO purity in a bag from the current 100 percent purity to 99.1 percent has seen millers fail to import the produce for fears that it would be confiscated by authorities for having exceeded the limits.
