Kenya sugar industry calls for regulated imports as local production falls

As local Kenyan sugar stocks fall below normal levels, the Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation Workers (KUSPW) has urged the Sugar Directorate to ensure that any sugar imports to meet the supply shortages are regulated to avoid flooding the market.

“We understand that there is a deficit of sugar at the moment but we want the imports to be well regulated to avoid causing a market glut,” Francis Wangara, the KUSPW secretary-general was quoted by Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper as saying.

The country’s Agriculture Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA) said in a statement  that the volume of sugar stocks in all the 11 factories stood at 3 678 tonnes last Friday, way below the 9 000 tonnes that the millers were expected to hold.

“The steep drop in sugar stocks below the required levels is mainly because of inefficiencies in most of the factories,” AFFA director-general, Alfred Busolo said.
Busolo said there was sufficient raw material to sustain optimal production but this had not been possible because most of the sugar millers were grossly inefficient.
The local sugar industry has been pushing for Kenyan authorities to ban imports altogether.