Kenya Faces Surging Food Prices As Cartels Undermine Subsidy Efforts

By Lisbeth Micheni, Kenya

Kenya is witnessing a sharp increase in the cost of essential food items, with new findings pointing to market manipulation and lack of competition as the main culprits.

According to a report released by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

(COMESA) Competition Commission, food costs in the country remain high despite falling global input prices, largely due to exploitative practices by dominant market players.

The report highlights that in cities like Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, the price of maize is the highest across the 21 COMESA member states.

This trend is replicated in other sectors, such as fertiliser and edible oils, where markups far exceed what would be considered reasonable based on production and input costs.

Kenyan agro-dealers, for instance, are reportedly maintaining elevated fertiliser prices by applying steep profit margins, ignoring global declines in production expenses.

In the cooking oil sector, households are paying up to twice the actual cost of production before VAT is added, with prices hitting as high as $3 per litre.

These findings point to a broader issue of structural weaknesses in Kenya’s agricultural markets, including poor distribution systems, limited transparency, and a concentration of control among a few key players.

The report also criticises current government subsidies, saying they have little effect in shielding the public from inflated prices due to these systemic distortions.

COMESA is now urging its member countries to strengthen market oversight, revise trade laws, and eliminate non-tariff barriers that continue to distort food prices across the region.

The Commission says reforms are urgently needed to protect consumers and support smallholder farmers, who are essential to the continent’s food security.