Retailers keep sugar prices up

Consumer sugar prices remain high in retail shops despite sufficient supply and a decline in factory costs in September.

A spot check showed most shops are selling different brands of sweetener at between Sh230 and Sh240, which implies the falling factory prices have not reflected on the shelves.

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data indicate consumer price of sugar averaged Sh127 a kilo last month.

Sugar Directorate says there is currently enough sugar in the country and the prices should not be above normal.

“We have enough stocks currently in the market and I cannot explain the high cost, unless there is something that has changed and we are not aware of,” said Solomon Odera, head of the directorate.

Sugar prices dropped 26 per cent in October helped by increased local production and an imports, coming as relief to households grappling with high cost of living.

Data from the Sugar Directorate indicate the price of a 50 kilogramme bag of the commodity was sold at Sh4,435 last month compared with September’s Sh5,935.

The market report indicates imports in the period grew 29 percent compared with the same period last year.

Imports in October stood at 23, 412 tonnes down from 35,859 in September. During the crackdown in May, the volume of imports dropped by 50 per cent in May as traders shied away from imports following the crackdown on illegal sweetener.

Naivas chief operating officer Willy Kimani, however, says the prices have come down compared with the previous weeks.

“The price was previously as high as Sh290 and it has actually come down,” he said.

Mr Kimani noted retailers make small margins from the commodity and just use it to help move other goods.

Sugar is one of the items in the food basket used in calculating the cost of living.

High cost of food exerts pressure on inflation as it accounts for 36 per cent of the total goods used in calculating cost of living.