Tough Times As Some Maize Flour Brands Move Past Ksh 150

What is the price of a 2-kilogram packet of maize flour (unga) at your place? 60 percent of Kenyans consume ugali as the main meal on a daily basis. It is, therefore, factual to say that ugali is something that most Kenyans cannot do without and one that companies are using to mint millions of shillings.

Kenyans are looking at tough times ahead as the price of maize flour continues to skyrocket even as the country moves towards the harvest season. A 2-kilogram packet of unga is not retailing between 115 and 130 shillings for most brands with some having moved beyond the 155 shillings mark.

Amaize Maize Flour brand, which was retailing at 142 shillings in most outlets last Friday is now retailing at between 159 and 160 shillings. Millers are attributing the hike in prices to the continued high prices of maize across the country, giving an indication that prices might not be coming down soon.

Data indicate that the price of a 90-kilogram bag of maize in Nairobi is selling at between 3,400 and 4,000 shillings, between 3,800 and 4,200 shillings in Mombasa, between 4,500 and 5,000 shillings in Busia and between 4,000 and 4,500 shillings in Kisumu.

The government, through the ministry of agriculture and that of devolution, had promised Kenyans that plans were underway to bring down the price of a 2-kilogram packet of maize flour from the current price to around 60 shillings. Unga has always been an emotive issue in Kenya.

Whenever the prices go up, the rekindle the days of “unga revolution” that sent the government of Jubilee into panic some time back.

In Kenya, commodity prices are often determined by market forces and traders have mastered the art of creating artificial shortages to hike prices.

Long rains for the planting season of 2019 delayed and it is expected that harvests this year will drop by at least 20 percent meaning Kenyans still have a long way ahead in 2020.