Millers warn delayed wheat import approvals risk higher flour and bread prices
Key points
- Cereal Millers Association warned delays in C60 wheat import approvals are raising miller costs as global wheat prices rise.
- C60 documents allow approved millers to import specified wheat under the Duty Remission Scheme after buying available local wheat.
- Industry committed to local wheat at Sh5,100 per 90kg bag (up from Sh4,750) and pays nearly Sh2 billion a year via AFA levy.
- CEO Paloma Fernandes said outstanding approvals leave consignments unable to clear normally, with demurrage, storage and financing costs that may hit flour, bread and chapati prices.
Flour, bread and chapatis could get more expensive if wheat stuck at the port keeps racking demurrage while millers wait for government import paper. The Cereal Millers Association said on Tuesday that delayed C60 approvals are lifting costs at a time global wheat prices are already rising, Eastleigh Voice reported.
A C60 is the control document that lets an approved miller import a set quantity of wheat under the Duty Remission Scheme for milling into flour for the Kenyan market. Under the current design, millers must first buy available local wheat before import permits flow. The industry has committed to Sh5,100 per 90-kilogram bag — up from Sh4,750 — and contributes nearly Sh2 billion yearly through the Agriculture and Food Authority levy to support local production.
Approvals lag after local purchase commitments
CMA Chief Executive Paloma Fernandes said millers have met Local Wheat Purchase Programme requirements yet outstanding C60s have not been released, leaving some consignments unable to clear normally. “Every additional day of delay adds demurrage, storage and financing costs,” she warned, urging earliest release of approvals. Those costs, CMA said, risk being passed to consumers.
Business desk: Business. Verified price points, C60 role and Fernandes quote from Eastleigh Voice; exact tonnes stranded and approval backlog size were not itemised in the public statement summary.
Agriculture and Trade desks now share a clock measured in demurrage days. Farmers want the Sh5,100 farmgate floor defended; bakers want flour lines fed. Without faster C60s, both stories collide at the retail shelf.
Retail bakers and household shoppers sit at the end of the demurrage chain. Coordinated release of C60s would ease miller costs without abandoning the local purchase floor farmers were promised.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of the CMA public statement. Price forecasts are industry warnings, not official CPI figures.
