Kenyan milk consumers have a reason to celebrate after prices reduced as a result of an increase in production in the 10 months to October 2018.
Milk production increased to 517.6 million litres in 2018 from 484.3 million litres in 2017, a 6.78 percent increase.
The bulk of the milk was produced between March and June on favorable weather.
New KCC managing director Nixon Sigey said the consumer price of milk will remain at current levels until January because of the increase in production.
Mr. Sigey said New KCC had witnessed 20 percent production growth in recent months.
The price of milk has remained low for the last one year, at an average of 50 shillings for a 500-milliliter packet, after hitting a high of 60 shillings in April 2017. The move prompted the government to intervene, allowing processors to import duty-free powder milk to ease the shortage.
However, there was a decline in production between July and October due to the cold season but this was offset by high production in the first half of the year.
Kenya has an annual processing capacity of 1.4 billion litres, which translates to 3.9 million litres a day.
In the last decade, milk production in Kenya has increased from 2.2 billion litres annually to
5.2 billion litres as a result of State and private sector policies and strategies to grow the industry.
The dairy industry still remains the single largest agricultural sub-sector in Kenya.
The country is looking to open new export markets for processed milk in Zambia and Central Africa.
Kenya exports five percent of milk to Tanzania, Uganda and the Middle East, while the rest is consumed locally. Most of it is processed milk and products such as ghee and butter.