Loaders offload sugar that was stopped on grounds it contains mercury and copper. More than 500,000 tonnes so far intercepted in ongoing crackdown. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Distributors have mainly been procuring cheap imported sugar for sale to wholesalers and retailers at the expense of the local millers leaving factories with huge stocks of the commodity that at one point hit 22,000 tonnes against the required threshold of 9,000 tonnes.
Millers say distributors are afraid of releasing stocks for fear of being confiscated by the authorities.
Sugar shortage is biting hard with consumer prices rising again within four days with retailers complaining they are not getting enough stocks from distributors.
Tuskys Supermarket Ronald Ngala branch was out of sugar on Monday with an attendant saying the stocks have been out since Saturday.
At Naivas, which had stocked just a handful of packets there were only two brands—NutraMeal and the local sugar (Naivas brand). A two-kilo packet of NutraMeal is now retailing at Sh275 from Sh240 last Thursday with the local brand retailing at Sh250 up from Sh190.
“We are having difficulties getting stocks from distributors and this is what is creating a shortage,” said Naivas chief operations officer Willy Mwangi.
The shortage follows a recent crackdown of illegal sugar in the country, where more than 500,000 tonnes of illegal sweetener has been confiscated in the past weeks.
Distributors have mainly been procuring cheap imported sugar for sale to wholesalers and retailers at the expense of the local millers leaving factories with huge stocks of the commodity that at one point hit 22,000 tonnes against the required threshold of 9,000 tonnes.
Imported sugar normally sells at about Sh500 less per 50kg bag compared with the locally produced one, making Kenya a preferred destination for dumping the commodity, according to a report by the defunct Kenya Sugar Board.
Millers say distributors are afraid of releasing stocks for fear of being confiscated by the authorities.
The country imported 981,00 tonnes of sugar between May and December last year as Kenya opened duty free window to allow traders to ship in the commodity outside Comesa to bridge the local deficit.
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