A 50-kilogramme bag of sugar on average retails at Sh3,500 down from Sh3,800 end of last year.
The price is lower than what millers are paying for a tonne of sugarcane to farmers, a move that has seen them complain bitterly to the directorate and call for a review.
The ex-factory price of sugar has been on the decline since mid-last year following an influx of duty-free sugar that stood at over 900,000 tonnes between May and November.
Millers say they are losing cash by selling sugar below the cost of production, affecting their income and slashing farmers’ earnings.
This has been precipitated by high volumes of duty-free sugar in the market leaving them stuck with a comparatively expensive commodity.
Agriculture and Food Authority director-general Alfred Busolo said the huge volumes had frustrated millers’ effort to market sugar.
“Millers are unable to offload stocks quickly at the desired price, and if they’ve to do so, they have to drop the factory price of sugar, which will, in turn, affect them and the farmers too,” he said.
A 50-kilogramme bag of sugar on average retails at Sh3,500 down from Sh3,800 end of last year. The price is lower than what millers are paying for a tonne of sugarcane to farmers, a move that has seen them complain bitterly to the directorate and call for a review.
The cost of sugar cane is pegged on consumer price.
The price at which millers buy cane from farmers is recommended by sugar pricing committee.
The ex-factory price of sugar has been on the decline since mid-last year following an influx of duty-free sugar that stood at over 900,000 tonnes between May and November.
The imports grew three-fold in 11 months to November 2017 compared with the previous year following the scrapping of duty to check the rising price of the sweetener that had hit Sh200 per kilogramme.
