Kenyans should brace themselves for higher prices of cooking oil and maize flour beginning this coming week due to a shortage of raw materials for the basic food products.
Maize millers are short of supplies owing to a lack of product locally and hoarding by East African countries, while prices of palm oil, which is used to manufacture edible oils, have more than doubled in the last month.
Kitui Maize Mills’ chief accountant Paul Miiri, said the company had already informed the government of the matter, but no action had been taken.
He stated that the company has not received any supplies for the previous three days and that if the situation persists, they would be forced to import, even though the fact that maize sources abroad are stockpiling the commodity.
“We have asked, in vain, the government to move to engage Tanzania to release maize to Kenyans. Tanzania is hoarding maize, while those who are selling have hiked the price by Sh2,000 per bag. Reserves at the National Cereals and Produce Board have dropped and supply from local farmers has dried up. The government has also failed to subsidise the cost of importing maize from Latin America, making it difficult to import,” said Miiri.
According to importers, a bag of maize that used to cost Sh4,000 now costs Sh5,800, millers acknowledged to a local newspaper that most of their maize reserves are running low as Tanzania reduces supply into the nation, causing the price of two-kilogram flour to rise from Sh140 to around Sh200.
As the maize crisis continues, the price of edible oil is projected to rise as palm oil importers face a severe shortage.
Vegetable oil prices have already increased more than 50 per cent in the last six months due to factors ranging from labour shortages in Malaysia to droughts in Argentina and Canada, the two largest exporters of soy oil and canola oil, respectively.
Following the intensification of the Ukraine-Russia crisis, manufacturers of cooking oil are now purchasing palm oil for between Sh176,000 and Sh198,000 per tonne.
before the conflict, the material was sold for Sh149,000 per tonne. It has more than doubled since the start of Covid-19 in March 2020, when it was Sh70,000 per tonne.
The price increase caused by the pandemic was attributed to Indonesian export restrictions.
Indonesia is the leading producer of crude palm oil and makes for 60 per cent of global edible vegetable oil shipments. The country is also a producer of sunflower, rapeseed oil, and soya beans.
