BREAKING: Sugar Price Shoots Up Amidst Factory Hitches
The consumer prices of sugar have increased amidst the factory hitches resulting from machines breakdown and routine maintenance shutdown.
Otieno Cynthia 
According to the latest report, the consumer price for a two-kilogram packet of sweetener sugar has hit Sh230 in retail shops from the earlier Sh200.
Higher prices have been even reported from the estate shops where a kilo of loose sugar is selling at Sh240 for a two-kilo packet from Sh200 previously.
Chemelil and Kibos sugar mills are some of the factories that have been interrupted.
According to the Agriculture Principal Secretary, Hamadi Boga, the breakdown of the factories has led to a huge backlog of cane being processed which has, in turn, affected the total stocks in the country.
The shutdown of the factories left farmers stranded with over 14,000 tonnes of the crop drying on the farms and trucks as long queues of tractors were witnessed at different weighbridges.
It is a result of the shortage that has seen wholesalers increase the cost of a 50- kilogram bag from Sh4,500 previously to Sh4,800 accrediting the rise to a tight supply in the market.
The hike in sugar prices comes at a time when the country has limited cheap imports from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) to protect growers from the competition.
