The price of maize flour is likely to remain high despite the government's suspension of all levies and taxes on imported maize.
Food security experts have attributed this to the high cost of maize in the international market and scarcity of the commodity locally.
A two-kilo packet of maize flour is retailing between Sh200 to Sh230 while a 90 kg bag of maize is currently selling at Sh6,200.
On Tuesday, Agriculture CS Peter Munya announced the suspension of all levies, taxes and charges on imported maize and animal feed products for the next three months, effective July 1.
The move, he said, was aimed at lowering the cost of maize, flour and animal feed in the coming 90 days before the next maize harvest.
Speaking at the Namanga border where he met various stakeholders to address the maize shortage crisis, Munya said the government is working to ensure that the cost of maize flour reduces.
“The new measures will fast-track the clearance of tracks at the border points where a major snarl up has been witnessed,” he said.
“The government is looking for ways of availing maize at an affordable price, to avert the crisis.”
Timothy Njagi, a senior researcher from Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, said the price of maize globally is high and this will continue to affect the price of maize flour.
Speaking to the Star on Thursday, Njagi said the suspension of levies and taxes is not likely to bring down the prices due to high global food prices, saying the food crisis is not isolated to Kenya but is a global problem.
He said countries like Tanzania have imposed new restrictions on maize export to Kenya and this may further push the price of maize higher.
“Maize imports will come into the Port of Mombasa at Sh5,500 per 90kg bag despite the waiver. If you factor in the cost of transport and other logistics, the same bag may get to Nairobi at Sh5,800 or even Sh6,000 bearing in mind the high cost of fuel,” he said.
Njagi said millers will factor in the cost of production which includes fuel so, at the end of the day, the consumer will carry the burden, and that high prices will persist for some time due to high global prices that have been made worse by the Russia-Ukraine war.
He said the South Rift maize harvest will start in mid-July till August but the production may not be adequate to help stabilise the prices.
The main maize harvest from the North Rift region will start in mid-September.
On May 20, the government granted a duty waiver of 540,000 metric tonnes on the importation of white non-genetically modified organism maize for three months.
The gazette notice sought to help avert the looming shortage of maize and cushion consumers against the high prices of flour.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
