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Sugar imports from UG double in ten months

sugar

A farmer harvests sugarcane at his farm in Koru, Kisumu County. Kenya sugar production increased to 49,549 tonnes in October. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Sugar imports from Uganda grew 97 percent in the 10 months to October resulting from surplus stocks in the neighbouring country.

Regulatory data shows the volumes jumped to 52,827 tonnes last month from 26,800 tonnes in the same period last year.

This is a huge contrast from last year when Kenya did not get much stock from Uganda because of the poor production that affected the entire East African region.

“Uganda has had surplus stocks this year and that is why they had to export huge quantities to the country compared with last year,” said Solomon Odera, head of sugar directorate.

Uganda is allowed to export a given quota of sugar to the country under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) safeguards regime.

During the period under review, 95,802 tonnes of sugar was imported from Comesa countries, which was a huge decline from 238,643 tonnes that was imported in the same period last year.

Kenya opened the window for duty-free sugar last year to allow the importation of the commodity outside the regional market to address the shortage occasioned by scarcity in 2017.

Local sugar production in October increased to 49,549 tonnes from 45,324 tonnes in corresponding period last year, which saw a kilogramme of the sweetener decline from a high of Sh152 per kilo in August to Sh142.

Normally, Kenya is annually allowed to import 350,000 tonnes of sugar from Comesa, which is spread across the year to about 30,000 tonnes monthly.

The country imported over 950,000 tonnes of sugar between May and December last year, flooding the market with cheap commodity from Brazil to the detriment of local millers but joy of consumers.

The Comesa protection for the country is expected to be reviewed on a regular basis.