Farmers and traders in Kenya have cautioned consumers to prepare for higher prices of sugar, bread, eggs, rice, cooking oil, and other food items this month, citing high input and fuel costs, decreased local production, and high import prices.
The prices of major food commodities will remain high in June and will be the main drivers of inflation during the month, according to the Agricultural Sector Survey of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), which was conducted between May 9 and 12 and released last Friday.
The poll evaluated fluctuations in retail and wholesale prices, expectations of changes in prices and output, and factors affecting the sector.
According to the survey, the prolonged wet weather between March and May was primarily to blame for the decline in prices of short-term crops like vegetables.
Tomato growers in Gilgil and Naivasha reported that prices had decreased as a result of increased supplies from Subukia. The cost of maize remained steady in May. However, some types of rice, beans, potatoes, sugar, and wheat continued to command high prices, indicating that they had not yet fully recovered from the effects of the drought that occurred the previous year.
High fuel prices, rising input costs like animal feed, decreased acreage for crops like rice, and rising import costs for wheat, sugar, and cooking oil, according to respondents, will keep these commodities’ prices high this month.
Food prices were found to be significantly impacted by supply chain disruptions, labour costs, and distance to markets. While some food items, like vegetables, saw price drops in May, other food items, like sugar, saw price increases. These price increases, along with higher fuel and electricity costs, contributed to a 0.1 percentage point, or 1.26 per cent, increase in inflation.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) reports that because households are experiencing an increase, inflation increased to 8% in May from 7.9% in April.
The year-on-year price changes for food, energy, and transport, which account for about 57 per cent of household budgets, were 10.2 per cent, 9.7 per cent, and 10.1 per cent, respectively.
An increase in the price of petroleum products, with national averages for gasoline, diesel, and kerosene prices of Sh183.29, Sh169.10, and Sh161.83 per litre, respectively, drove up the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which make up the energy index, as well as transportation.
With a kilogramme of sugar costing on average Sh194.29 in May compared to Sh159.10 in April, the price of the sweetener further contributed to the food and non-alcoholic beverage index’s increase of 49.2% year over year and 22.1% month over month.
“Prices of sugar, carrots, onions and beans increased by 22.1, 6.3, 5.1 and 3.6 per cent respectively between April and May. However, the prices of kale, cabbage and avocado declined by 7.4, 5.7 and 4.4 per cent respectively,” KNBS said.