Kenya makes u-turn on sugar imports

Dockworkers off-loading some of the six thousand metric tons of sugar from the MV Tiau Shou soon after she arrived and docked at the port of Mombasa. (Photo: Gideon Maundu/Standard)

Kenya has made an about-turn on sugar importation, days after the National Treasury allowed duty-free importation of the commodity.

Sugar is retailing at an all-time high price of Sh200 per kilogramme, exacerbating the soaring cost of living for millions of households that are spending up to 70 per cent of their incomes on food. Initial measures aimed at cutting the retail prices for sugar had allowed “anybody” to import sugar from any part of the world without any taxation, setting the stage for friction with neighbours in the Common Market for the Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). “We have decided to place a cap on the amount of sugar that we can allow duty-free,” said Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe.