Yesterday, the Agriculture CS Peter Munya announced that the government had suspended all levies on imports for maize and animal feed products effective July 1, 2022.
The CS said that the directive would help bring down the cost of maize flour which has risen to over Sh200 for a 2kg bag.
“The government is looking into ways and means of addressing the cost of unga to bring it down so that consumers can afford it,” CS Munya said after inspecting the importation of maize from Tanzania at the Namanga Border Post.
Millers now claim that Peter Munya’s proposals to suspend all tariffs on imported maize in an effort to reduce the cost of the staple will only result in a Sh2 reduction in the price of flour for a two-kilo packet.
The move, according to United Grain Millers Association (UGMA), a group representing small and medium-sized millers, is so inconsequential that it won’t have any effect on consumers.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Namanga border, Mr. Munya stated that the government would publish an order by the end of Thursday suspending the duties placed on imported maize in an effort to cut the price of flour, which is now sold for Sh210 for a two-kilo package.
Imported maize is levied Sh100 for a 90-kilo bag, with a single bag giving 36 packets of two kilos when milled, meaning that suspending the levies will only cut the cost by Sh2.7.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards collects the Certificate of Conformity fee on behalf of the government. The Kenya Health Inspectorate Service collects the phytosanitary fee on behalf of the government. The Kenya Revenue Authority collects the import declaration fee on behalf of the government.
The UGMA chairman Ken Nyaga remarked, “The move is so insignificant, we need a serious government intervention on making the maize available in order to cut down significantly on the cost of flour.”
