The government of Kenya has banned sugar imports into the country from countries outside the East African Community (EAC) and the Greater Eastern and Southern African Market, two regional trade blocs, citing an increase in local production.
Andrew Karanja, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, said in Kenya’s capital Nairobi that local sugar production has improved and the country’s output should exceed 800,000 tonnes this year.
Karanja said the government had not widened the window for sugar products from countries outside the Economic Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa and East African Community trade blocs. He noted that Kenya’s 16 factories had produced about 700,000 tonnes of sugar annually in the past four years, with production expected to reach 800,000 tonnes in 2022.
The country’s sugar production has been low because the country and others in both regional groups suffer from drought.
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He noted that the East African country had temporarily allowed sugar from outside these regions to protect consumers from high prices, adding that the sweets to be used in 2025, now backed by sugar protection from COMESA and the EAC, will expire in February.
Karanja also said Kenya has deployed security agencies to help combat illegal sugar smuggling through its porous borders and added that it is committed to implementing the free trade agreement as stipulated in existing agreements.
COMESA is the African regional economic community comprising 21 member states while EAC is a regional organization comprising eight partner countries.
