NAIROBI: Kenya’s wheat imports hit Sh35.6 billion last year amid rising concerns by local farmers that millers are overlooking their produce. The farmers said millers are shunning their crop in favour of imports because oversupply in the international market has driven down wheat prices by more than 30 per cent since last year. “Millers are no longer buying wheat from farmers since their silos are full of imports,” said Mr Anthony Kioko, chief executive of Cereal Growers Association (CGA), a lobby for local farmers.
He said millers are enjoying bigger margins from the imported wheat compared to the local grain. The Sh35.6 billion imports represent a 5.3 per cent rise from Sh33.8 billion in 2014 and Sh30 billion a year earlier, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows.
CGA says imported wheat costs about Sh2,600 per bag compared to above Sh3,000 that local farmers need to sell their produce to break even. Wheat flour prices have slightly changed over the past year with a two-kilo packet retailing at between Sh126 and Sh140 in the supermarkets.Wheat imports grew to 1.4 million tonnes from 1.2 million in 2014 and one million a year earlier.
