Markets

Kenya awaits Kampala talks to settle milk trade standoff

Kenya is awaiting confirmation from Kampala on when to visit Uganda for a verification mission on milk to resolve a two-year trade row on dairy imports between the two countries.
In a bilateral meeting held in Nairobi last December, Uganda and Kenya agreed on other trade issues except for milk. Kampala was to issue a date this month on the Kenya delegation’s trade mission.
Kenya wants to visit...

Traders defy duty-free sugar import quota, raising prices

Traders breached the limit the Treasury set on duty-free sugar imports and shipped in 25.4 percent above the quota by the end of last November, subjecting the consumers to costly sweetener.
According to the Sugar Directorate, traders imported 263,988 in the review period, exceeding 210,530, which is the limit that the Treasury set for sugar coming in from Common Markets for Eastern and...

Mumias sugar takeover now takes another twist

Officials of a Ugandan company, which bagged the multibillion shilling leasing tender for Mumias Sugar Company now risk the slammer after an application for contempt was filed against them, for starting work despite a court order stopping the process.
Tumaz & Tumaz Enteprises moved to court on Thursday accusing Mr Sarbjit Rai, the owner of Sarrai Group, Rakesh Kumar Bvats (manager) and KCB...

Sarrai sets aside initial Sh1.1bn for jumpstarting Mumias Sugar

The Ugandan investor who won the Mumias leasing award will invest Sh1.1 billion to jump-start operations at the ailing miller.
Sarrai Group said the funds, which are only the first batch of capital, would be key to starting the operations at the initial stage with more funds to be injected in due course.
The leasing fee that the Sarrai had bid would go towards paying Mumias creditors to free...

Tea, coffee record mixed fortunes

Kenya’s tea and coffee exports recorded mixed fortunes in 2021 due to oscillating prices and demand in the international market.
It was a good year for coffee, whose price remained high throughout the season on the back of a decline in supply—caused by frost in leading producer Brazil.
The price was quoted at an average of over $320 for a 50 kilogramme bag throughout 2021, the best performance...

Farmers Baseline Survey

Limasmart Team Lead Elphas begun our farmers baseline surveys earlier this year. The process is ongoing and we intend to capture the northern parts of Kakamega county, concentrating mostly around Lugari and Likuyani sub-counties as well as parts of central and southern Kakamega namely Lurambi, Shinyalu and Mumias.

To partake in the survey online kindly click here.
The survey is open to both...

Court freezes Mumias lease in billionaires fight

The fight among billionaires for the control of Mumias Sugar Company has escalated after the High Court suspended the planned leasing of the ailing miller to a Ugandan-based tycoon.
Justice Anthony Ndung’u froze the 20-year-old lease offered to Sarrai Group after businessman Julius Mwale through his firm, Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises, sued against the offer, saying the bidding was tainted with...

We have no maize in our silos, NCPB cries out

The country is staring at an acute food shortage after it emerged that maize reserve stores are empty.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) yesterday urged the National Assembly Agriculture Committee to urgently come up with interventions to avert a food crisis.
Consequently, the board is seeking for Sh10.4 billion to purchase 2.8 million bags of local white maize at Sh2,700 per unit,...

Western rice production boost hope as authority installs mill at Kibos

The government is installing a Sh65 million rice milling machine in Kisumu, raising hope among farmers who had seen production dwindle over the years.
Lack of milling machines has been a serious setback for rice production in the region. The existing mill is slow and energy consuming.
Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) chairman Owidi Odoyo said the machine was ordered from India in 2019....

Indians seek cap on cheap Kenyan tea imports amid glut

By Brian Ngugi

Indian tea producers and exporters want their government to limit shipments of low priced Kenyan tea into the Asian country to stem glut that has hit farmers.
The Kolkata based Indian Tea Association (ITA) whose members represent over 60 percent of India’s total tea production Monday urged the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to introduce a...