Kenya’s wheat imports hit Sh35.6 billion last year, amid rising concerns by local farmers that millers are ignoring their produce.
The farmers said millers are shunning their crop, in favour of imports. Imports have become cheaper because oversupply in the international market has driven down wheat prices by more than 30 per cent since last year.
“Millers are no longer buying wheat from farmers since their silos are full of imports,” said Mr Anthony Kioko, chief executive of Cereal Growers Association (CGA), a lobby for local farmers.
He said millers are enjoying bigger margins from the imported wheat compared with the local grain.
The Sh35.6 billion imports represents a 5.3 per cent rise from Sh33.8 billion in 2014 and Sh30 billion a year earlier, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows.