The price of maize flour is set to fall in the coming months as the government commences the importation of cheap maize.
The first ship carrying 42,464 tonnes of maize from the Port of Odesa in Ukraine is expected to arrive in the country on Sunday, March 12, according to a published report by a local daily.
Millers, however, say the price fall will only be actualized if the grain will be shipped in at least every week.
“If there will be more coming every week, then it will help to address the current high prices of flour. The cost will also depend on the price at which they are landing in Mombasa,”
said Ken Nyaga, chairman United Grain Millers Association.
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Maize prices have remained above the 6,000 shillings mark in the last months, piling pressure on Unga prices. A 2-kg packet of maize flour is currently retailing at 180 shillings, with the premium brands going for 240 shillings.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) data indicate that maize flour prices contributed to the most significant rise in the inflation rate from 8.5 per cent in August to 9.2 per cent in September.
Millers attributed the high cost of maize flour to a domestic shortage of maize occasioned by a biting drought. According to the UN, the country is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years. As a result, the country has continued to report low maize Production, given that more than 80 per cent of Kenya’s maize is rainfed.
The country has been relying on imports to bridge the local deficit. Maize imports in the nine months to September 2022 more than doubled to 5.7 million (90-kg) bags compared to the 2.3 Million bags imported in a corresponding period in 2021. This was the highest maize import since 2017.
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The Agriculture Ministry said the country imports four to six million bags of maize annually, with Most of the maize being imported by the private sector and relief agencies. East African Uganda and Tanzania are the main import markets for Kenyan maize.
The government last year allowed millers and traders to import 900,000 tonnes or 10 million bags of white duty-free maize from February 1, 2023, to ease the surging cost of the country’s staple.
The State will allow traders to ship in the commodity from outside the regional market duty-free between February and August, just two months before the onset of the main harvest in October. The government instructed traders who were issued importing licenses to bring in the commodity at 4,200 shillings for a 90-kilo bag.
This forced many traders to shy away from the importation plan clarifying that it would be difficult to get maize that would land in Kenya at that government price. The millers argued that the cost of maize on the international market is high due to a global shortage as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war that disrupted the supply of grains.
