Kenya Dairy Board has ordered an indefinite suspension of milk powder importation in a bid to protect processors from regional competition.
The regulator said rains are expected this month, which will boost local milk production and reduce the need for imports.
“In anticipation of the long rains, the government has stopped the importation of milk powder to cushion the industry from surplus production and low producer prices,” the board’s managing director Margaret Kibogy wrote to milk powder importers in a letter dated March 6.
“Consequently, the board has temporarily suspended the issuance of these import permits until further notice.”
The regulator said it will continue to monitor the production and demand dynamics of the commodity before deciding when imports of milk powder can resume.
The move is seen as protecting processors and farmers from lower-priced milk from neighbouring Uganda.
“We will make a decision [of lifting the ban or not] after the monitoring, this is to the benefit of the farmer,” Ms Kibogy told sections of the media.
The long drought has resulted in the current high milk prices.
The board has also suspended the issuance of import permits.
Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) responds
“Kenya’s ban on importation of our products is not new, if it’s not milk, it’s eggs or grain. The ban contravenes the EAC (East African Community) trade protocols, the Common Market Protocol on the free movement of goods and services, as well as the agreement that established the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA),” Ms Sarah Kagingo, the Vice Chairperson of Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU) told this news website.
Asked what steps PSFU would take, Ms Kagingo said Uganda’s private sector apex body will engage the Ugandan government.
“At a strategic level, we partner with the government in pursuit of integration of regional markets for the benefit of the entire private sector in the region. We are tabling the unfortunate development to the government to use their good offices and diplomatic mechanisms to engage Kenya,” Ms Kagingo said.
She added,” regional trade should be the cornerstone of EAC Partner States’ policies. Our countries signed the Common Market Protocol in 2009 which came into force in July 2010. However, the practice often contradicts what was ratified, and businessmen engaged in export need handholding. We (PSFU), in partnership with the Ugandan government, have held several business summits to, among others, resolve barriers to trade and travel.”
Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has in recent weeks claimed that a few Kenyan families have a monopoly over the milk industry. He said the administration would open space for other competitors to invest in the industry and lower prices in the drought and hunger-stricken East African country.
In the first weeks of President William Ruto’s administration, he spoke to issues of trade in East Africa’s dairy sector.
Ruto assured Ugandan milk farmers that Kenya would buy cheap milk from Uganda so that processed milk from Kenya is exported to other countries.
Kenya’s move to freeze the importation of milk products is widely considered as Ruto administration’s backtracking.
