OIL AND FUEL PRICES CAUSE MORE ALARM
Bread prices are expected to rise even more across the country due to the rising costs of cooking oil,wheat and fuel.
Broadway Bakery, the maker of the Broadways bread has announced that a 200g mini loaf will cost Ksh 35 while wholesale price will be Ksh 30.A 400g loaf will cost buyers Ksh.60 while the whosesale price will be Ksh 55.
According to Broadway Managing Director Bimal Shah, the 600g loaf will increase from Ksh.83 to Ksh.90 with a wholesale price of 83 and the 800g loaf will increase from Ksh.100 to Ksh.110.
Bimal said cooking oil and packaging material which is now up by 20 percent is causing the shooting of the prices.
Mini Bakeries, which makes the Supa Loaf brand, has already raised the price of a 400g bread from Ksh 55 to Ksh 60.
Manufacturers of cooking oil in the country last week warned Kenyans of a looming shortage of the commodity as well as increased prices amid Indonesia’s ban of palm oil exports.
While palm oil makes over half of global edible vegetable oil, Indonesia accounts for a third of the world’s palm oil exports.
Kenya mainly imports vegetable oils such as sunflower oils, soybean, corn oil, and crude palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, but weak production over the last six months in Malaysia due to floods and labor shortages has seen Kenya resort to Indonesia’s palm oil.
At the same time, wheat prices have been rising since Russia’s announcement that it would be invading Ukraine in February.
The two countries supply Kenya with 66 percent of the total wheat that is consumed locally. However the war have borne logistical challenges and export bans, making prices go up by around Ksh.10, 000 per metric tonne.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, inflation rate has increased from 5.56% in March 2022 to 6.47% in April representing a 0.91% jump.
The food prices skyrocketed by 12 percent with cooking oil denoting the highest increment of 41.7 %.Wheat flour had a 24.7% increment, potatoes by 22.4% while maize flour rose by 14.7%. Paw paws and ripe bananas however dropped by 11.2 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.
Fuel prices had 8.5% surge, meaning Kenyans will have to bear the consequences of the high cost of living especially for parents whose children are going back to school.