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Kenya has reverted to importing sugar from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and East African Community member countries, bringing in more than 70 per cent of the imported produce from these markets in the nine months to September this year.

The country imported more than 135,000 tonnes of sugar from Comesa and the EAC, out of the 189,000 tonnes it imported in the nine months to September, a significant reduction from the 933,000 tonnes of sugar it imported last year, of which only 300,000 tonnes was from Community countries.

“Within the nine months to September, Comesa-FTA countries supplied Kenya with 84,127 tonnes, while 5,000 tonnes came from Comesa Non-FTA. The EAC provided 51,285 tonnes, with the majority being from Uganda, whereas imports from the rest of the world were 49,208 tonnes,” the latest report from the Sugar Directorate shows.

There was also a slight rise in sugar exports in the nine months of this year to 1,947 tonnes against 363 tonnes in the same period last year.

“The low exports are attributed to the fact that Kenya is a deficit sugar producer with most of the production being targeted at local consumers.Moreover, Kenyan sugar is expensive and therefore not attractive for export,” the report says.