The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) says retailers are unilaterally increasing prices of basic goods.
According to the federation, retailers are taking advantage of the impending general elections, inflation and the Russian-Ukraine war, to arbitrarily increase prices of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs).
Secretary general Stephen Mutoro said they have received numerous complaints on overnight price changes.
Affected goods include maize meal, wheat flour, sugar, cooking oil, tissue paper, milk, groceries, among others, whose some prices have increased by up to 40 per cent, like the case of cooking oil.
A spot check by the Star established that a 2-kilo packet of sifted maize flour is going by an average Sh150.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics inflation data, the same product averaged Sh147.57 last month, which was an increase from Sh138.10 in April.
Cooking oil prices have also been rising with a litre currently averaging Sh450.
According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Data, in May, the same was Sh370 up from Sh351 in April.
The same retailed at an average of Sh 252.03 in April lasy year.
Maize and bread prices have gone up by between Sh5 and Sh7 depending on brands.
“Prices of fortified maize flour, cooking fat, cooking oil(salad) and fresh packeted cow milk increased by 6.9, 6.1 5.3 and 3.7 per cent in May 2022, respectively,” KNBS director general Macdonald Obudho notes in the latest inflation update.
The rise in the price of various food basket items drove inflation to a two-year high of 7.1 per cent in May, up from 6.5 per cent in April and 5.6 per cent in March–KNBS.
Cofek blamed abuse of buyer power between manufacturers and supermarkets, saying it is hurting both manufacturers and consumers alike.
“Retail chains are varying prices at will and in an exorbitant manner,” Mutoro said in a statement yesterday.
The federation has called on the Competition Authority to immediately act to restore order in the retail sector.
“Equally, we expect Retail Traders Association of Kenya (RETRAK) to rein in on their members before we publicly cite them and call for consumer boycott,” said Mutoro.
Further, Cofek has demanded that manufacturers communicate their updated Recommended Retail Price (RRP) on their websites with immediate effect.
This would allow consumers to make necessary price comparisons, Cofek says.
It also wants the Trade and Industrialisation ministry to develop a draft legislation on regulation of retail chains in Kenya.
This should include contracts with suppliers, their prompt payments, capping maximum variation levels from RRPs, shelf versus till pricing, selling expired goods, and specifying other measures to protect the consumers.
“Consumers are increasingly falling victims to the insatiable greed by retailers to make unjustified income,” Mutoro said.
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is however blaming a global shortage and increase in the prices of crude palm oil, a raw material for cooking oil manufacturing, for the rising shelf prices.
According to the edible oil sub-sector chairman at KAM Abdulghani Alwojih, the Covid-19 pandemic heavily affected Indonesia and Malaysia which are the two biggest producers of crude palm oil crippling harvesting and milling activities.
“This caused a fall in the supply amidst steady demand resulting in an inevitable price hike,” Alwojih said.
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