State slaps new import, export levies on bixa

A bixa farmer at Shimba Hills, Kwale County in this photo taken on May 27, 2025.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

The government has levied fresh import and export taxes on a Coast-grown cash crop used for food colouring and cosmetics production, in a development that signals rising State interest in the largely unregulated subsector.

Under the new Crops (Bixa) Regulations, 2025, exporters of processed bixa products will pay a levy equivalent to one percent of the consignment value while those shipping out raw bixa will pay three percent.

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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.