The price of maize has dropped further following the start of harvesting in the South Rift with a 90-kilogramme bag declining to Sh2,800, signalling lower cost of flour for consumers.
This is the first time that the price of maize has dropped below Sh3,000 in almost a year, with the high prices helping keep the price of flour at a high of Sh120 for a two-kilo packet.
Farmers in the South Rift have started harvesting their main crop with two million bags expected to be added to the market from the region.
Maize from South Rift, which comes two months to the start of the main harvesting season in the North Rift, normally plays a significant role in supplementing the available stocks in Kenya.
However, farmers have raised concerns arguing that they need a selling price of over Sh3,000 to make profit.
“The prices have dropped following the onset of harvesting in Narok and Bomet coupled with the imports that are coming in from Tanzania. For farmers to be in business, they need at least a price of Sh3,000 per bag,” said Mr Anthony Kioko, chief executive officer of Cereal Growers Association.
Mr Kioko said there has been an influx of maize from Tanzania in the recent days and this has also had an impact in the market.
Tanzania has been exporting a lot of maize to Kenya in the recent past following a good harvest.
The price of maize had shot to a high of Sh3,800 in May because of the tightening supply in the market, prompting the government to allow imports outside East Africa.
Millers have imported 855,000 bags of white maize so far from a total of two million that they were allowed to ship in.
However, most of them are yet to collect the commodity from Mombasa because of higher cost with a 90 kilo bag of imported maize going at Sh3,600 when it gets to Nairobi.
The onset of harvesting is set to add pressure on imported maize as millers are going to shun it for cheap local grain.
The maize had been imported by traders who used millers’ licenses after the Treasury reduced the duty from 50 per cent to 14 per cent.
