Thinner profits as vendors, food kiosks adjust to high charcoal prices

A worker in an eatery roast meat in an oven in Kisii town on 3/4/2018.There is a rise in cost of living with hotels raising the prices of food due to the rise in the cost of production. (Sammy Omingo, Standard)

The mud seems to be the least of their worries as they dash into open-air food kiosks lined up on the edge of Nairobi River.

This is the back end of Nairobi’s Grogon area, where hungry workers seated on wooden benches with sagging sacks for rooftops gather for lunch for as little as Sh20.

It is also where skyrocketing charcoal prices have hit food vendors hard, causing them to record thinner thinner profits.

A 90-day ban on logging effected on February 24 has led to a charcoal scarcity countrywide, with a sack of the fuel shooting up to Sh2,600 from Sh1,400.

At the Ngara market, Mercy Ngove, who runs a food kiosk, is has just returned from her third trip for another 4kg-tin of charcoal.

The price of the tin has now doubled, costing her Sh100.

To compound the pain, no handful of charcoal is being added as a bonus, as was the case before.

A sack of charcoal at the market goes for Sh2,500.

Ngove said she has had to adjust meal prices owing to the now high fuel cost.

A plate of the popular ‘mix’ (a mixture of rice, njahi, and stew) now retails at Sh70, up from Sh50.

She does not see any alternative as charcoal is an effective fuel in boiling most of the grains she cooks for her customers.

“I can’t use gas as an alternative … maybe for cooking tea only,” she said.

Government data shows that the average price of a 4kg tin of charcoal in March was Sh107.36 up from Sh84.49 in February this year. Among basic commodities, a 4kg tin of charcoal has recorded a 34.52 per cent increase in price since last March, second to a kilo of onions, which has increased by 41.08 per cent.

Asha cooks pilau and biryani from her home in Eastleigh and packages it for distribution to shops in the central business district.

“We used to buy a sack for Sh1,400, now we are buying it at Sh2,600. Which we use for at least one week,” she said.

She added that she would not adjust her food prices because customers would complain.

Stephen Mutoro, the Consumer Federation of Kenya chairperson, said the Environment Ministry made a rash decision that had consequently affected thousands of poor households.