Sugar Prices Up By 23 Percent, Further Raiding Tattered Pockets

Visited Naivas (Outering Road) on Monday. 1 kilogram of sugar had gone up to 115 shillings. Some brands were at 128 shillings. This was a steep increase from just 105 shillings a day before. A 2-kilogram packet starts from 240 shillings.

Retailers say the price of a 50-kilogram bag of sugar has increased by 23 percent. The 50-kilogram bag is now 6,200 shillings from 5,050 shillings. This has trickled down to a kilogram rising by between 2.5 and 5 percent in less than a week.

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The increase in sugar prices has been attributed to a shortage in the market caused by a disruption in production by factories in western Kenya. Most factories have stopped milling sugar or for maintenance or some have shut down operations.

For instance, Chemelil and Kibos sugar mills broke down, leading to a huge backlog of cane to be processed, which has impacted on total stocks in the country. Farmers were left with more than 14,000 tonnes of sugarcane that had not been admitted into the factories.

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In October, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said that a two-kilogram packet of sugar rose by the highest margin in October to retail at 230 shillings in most supermarkets around the country.

At the same time, in October, food prices were relatively higher in October. The prices of tomatoes, oranges, and sugar increased by 3.53, 3.12, and 2.50 percent. At the same time, prices of spinach, beans, and potatoes decreased by 2.73, 0.45, and 0.36 percent, respectively.

The Transport Index decreased by 0.35 percent mainly due to a drop in the price of petrol and diesel, which went down by 3.69 percent and 4.29 percent, respectively between September and October.

Now, almost everything in Kenya is becoming expensive. It is time for the common man to suffer and maybe get some sense during the next voting.