Sugarcane shortage slashes Kenya’s sugar production by 25 per cent
Kenya’s sugar production fell by nearly 25% in January–August 2025 due to a shortage of mature cane, following overharvesting and reduced cultivation. Several western mills were temporarily shut to prevent cutting immature cane. To stabilise supply and prices, the government increased duty-free imports, which also pushed up the national import bill.
A biting shortage of mature sugarcane has pushed Kenya’s sugar production down by nearly 25 per cent in the eight months to August 2025, forcing the government to turn to imports to meet local demand and stabilise prices.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), factories produced 406,807 tonnes of sugar during the period, compared to 541,681 tonnes last year, marking a 24.89 per cent decline.
The drop in production has been attributed to a severe shortage of mature sugarcane, resulting from previous overharvesting and reduced cultivation, which affected output in early to mid-2025.
To address the shortage, the Kenya Sugar Board ordered a temporary closure of milling operations in key cane-growing zones in western Kenya for three months starting July 14, 2025, amid concerns that millers were harvesting immature cane. The closure affected seven factories: Mumias, Butali, and West Kenya in Kakamega County; Nzoia and Naitiri in Bungoma; and Busia Sugar Industry and Olepito in Busia County.
The suspension targeted factories struggling with insufficient mature cane and instances of cane poaching, where millers harvested from growers with younger crops, sometimes only 10–13 months old, instead of the ideal 16–18 months needed for optimal sucrose development. Sucrose, the sweet juice in cane, is what is processed into sugar crystals.
To mitigate the impact of the milling suspension, the government ramped up duty-free sugar imports, helping to stabilise local prices. KNBS data shows production fell to its lowest in May, when factories produced 32,760 tonnes, improving slightly to 40,800 tonnes by August. Cane deliveries also declined from 501,604 tonnes in July to 465,981 tonnes in August.
“Cumulatively, a total of 4.58 million tonnes was delivered in the first eight months of 2025, compared to 6.3 million tonnes over the same period in 2024,” KNBS stated.
The bureau’s quarterly statistics indicate that Kenya’s import bill rose in the three months to June, driven by higher imports of sugar, iron, steel, and other industrial goods.
“The growth was primarily driven by an increase in imports of industrial machinery (18 per cent), iron and steel (84 per cent), sugars, molasses, and honey (56.9 per cent), and road motor vehicles (38 per cent),” KNBS said. “During the quarter under review, imports from Africa expanded to Sh73.4 billion, reflecting an increase of 18.9 per cent from the second quarter of 2024. The rise in import bill was partly due to increased imports of sugar from Uganda, essential oils from Eswatini, and iron and steel from South Africa.”
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Source : Eastleigh Voice
