Millers say that the landing price of wheat will increase to Sh56,000 for a tonne from Sh50,000 currently, exerting pressure on the flour and other products.
The millers expect the consumer price of wheat flour to go up to Sh160 for a two-kilo packet from the current retail cost of Sh140 for the same quantity.
The price of the grain in the world market has been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of the year on the back of a global shortage that has increased demand.
The price of wheat flour is expected to go up starting January following a rise in the cost of importing the grain into the country.
Millers say that the landing price of wheat will increase to Sh56,000 for a tonne from Sh50,000 currently, exerting pressure on the flour and other products.
The millers expect the consumer price of wheat flour to go up to Sh160 for a two-kilo packet from the current retail cost of Sh140 for the same quantity.
The price of the grain in the world market has been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of the year on the back of a global shortage that has increased demand.
“The prices of wheat flour will be going up as early as January because of an increase in import cost of the commodity,” said Bimal Shah, the managing director of the Broadway Group of Companies.
Mr Shah said though the price of baking flour will be going up as well, that of bread may not at least in the next three to four months given that the cost was reviewed upwards by Sh5 last month.
This was the third time since January 2021 that bakers had adjusted the price of bread. However, all the previous increments had to be reversed following a fall in demand from consumers amid high competition from supermarket in-house brands whose cost remained unchanged.
A tonne of wheat in the global market, where Kenya sources at least 75 percent of her annual requirement, has gone up from Sh33,000 at the beginning of 2021.
In January, Russia introduced a 25 euro (Sh3,225) duty per tonne of export wheat to discourage shipping out of the commodity to protect its local market, the move has had a negative impact on Kenya, which imports a significant amount of the grain from that country.
The tax was meant to protect the Russian market which is also suffering a shortage that has seen prices of items like bread in that country go up.
