Food Prices Continue Rising Rapidly; Is there Any Hope After the Polls?

Kenyans are still struggling to put food on the table as their monthly budget narrows daily due to the increased commodity prices.

In the month of July, the cost of major food staff continued to rise rapidly standing at 15 percent.

According to new data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), cooking oil, wheat flour, sifted maize flour and potatoes have led to the foodstuffs price surge.

The higher food prices saw the annualized inflation rate peak at a five-year high of 8.3 percent in July from 7.9 percent in June.

Cooking oil

The KNBS data shows that cooking oil prices jumped the highest at 46.5 percent as compared to June 2022.

A liter of the commodity is now selling for as high as 425 shillings and 440 shillings at Naivas and Carrefour supermarkets, respectively.

A 2 liter can of Rina Cooking oil retails at 768 shillings, while 3 liter of the same commodity now costs 1,178 shillings.

Meanwhile, a 10 liter of Fresh Fri cooking oil is trading at 3,506 shillings while a 20 liter of the same brand is 6,991 shillings at Naivas and carrefour shopping outlets. This is more than double the cost of the commodity in May 2021.

These prices result from the spike in the global cost of edible vegetable oils such as crude palm oil, sunflower, soybean, and corn oil by an average of 45 percent in the last year.

Wheat Flour

Since June 2022, the cost of a 2Kg packet of wheat flour has increased by 46 percent to retail at over 200 shillings.

Before all the market disruptions, a two-kilogram of wheat flour retailed at between 110 and 120 shillings. Currently, the same commodity has increased by 46 percent to retail at over 200 shillings in most of the supermarkets in Nairobi.

KNBS data for June shows that two kilograms of wheat flour rose by almost a third to an average of 166 shillings in May 2022 as compared to 129 shillings in May 2021.