The bulk of the sugar imports was brown/mill white type (table sugar 829,871 tonnes), representing 84 per cent of the total consignment, while the balance was industrial sugar used for manufacturing. “The significant increase in table sugar imports is ascribed to huge importation of duty-free sugar between May and August 2017 to mitigate prevailing local shortage in the country,” says the report. The country imported 26,700 tonnes of sugar from East African countries last year, which is a decline from 39,109 tonnes in the same period in 2016. Sugar production in the country dropped 41 per cent during the same period as factories grappled with shortage of raw material. The Treasury scrapped duty on imported sugar from outside Comesa in May following a severe shortage of the commodity in Kenya last year.

Source: Daily Nation February 05, 2018 18:56 UTC