Sugar Production Registers a Tiny Drop as Sales Increase by 3%

The Agriculture and Food Authority, Sugar Directorate has released a monthly newsletter giving insight into how the sugar industry performed in May.

According to the newsletter, a total of 57,796 tones of sugar was produced in May 2021 as compared to 58,404 tonnes in the previous month, indicating a 1 percent decrease

The total sales in the same month were 60,234 tonnes which is a 3 percent increase from the previous month.

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The sugar market news indicated that the total sugar closing stocks held by all the factories as of May 2021 was 10,384 tonnes.

The Ex-factory prices ranged between Ksh. 4200 and 4650, giving an average of Ksh. 4,432/50kg bag compared to Ksh. 4,513/50kg bag recorded in the previous month.

The wholesale sugar price per 50kg bag was ranging between Ksh. 4,450 to 5000 and yielded to an average price of Ksh. 4,639 while a kilogram of sugar retailed at Ksh. 109.

According to the newsletter, the total sugar exports were 1297 tonnes while the imports amounted to 24,735 tonnes in May 2021.

The white refined sugar imports amounted to 8,120 tonnes while mill white/brown sugar totaled 16,615 tonnes bringing the average CIF value for both white refined and mill white/brown sugar to 57,473/tonne.

According to the International Sugar Organization, in the first half of 2021, raw sugar prices strengthened further before easing to settle into a range around USD 17.cents/lb.

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The ISA daily price for raw sugar averaged USD 17.26cent/lb while the ISO white sugar was at USD 459/tonne, projecting a weaker price for white sugar.