The association of Manufacturers and the millers yesterday met and discussed the process of making the Unga cheaper especially this period that the country has been hit with drought. The Treasury cabinet secretary said that the price of the important commodity was to be reduced in the past few weeks.
In the meeting, it was revealed that the government offered only 800000 bags of maize which could only last for eight days. The Association of Manufactures suggested that the government need to come up with other measures of making the basic commodity low priced.
The Millers met in Nairobi following the Directives from the government and said that the price of Unga will be dropped for the eight days at between KSH 120-150 per 2kg Packet. When the government maize is over then the price will go back to the same state or over.
The millers said that milling the maize does not only depend on the availability of Maize but other factors as well. According to the Millers, the price of Unga will be dropped if the government do the following.
Reduce the electricity unit price at least by half. Currently, electricity unit cost Ksh.18. The price of fuel also should be reduced. The company annually taxes should also be reduced from 30% to at least 15-20%. These are the main factors that the millers are facing because they paying so many authorities in Country. There is an annual fee for NEMA, County governments, KRA and KAM.
According to the Manufacturers, they said the priced will be hard for them to drop because right now they are at a loss following the increase in Taxes. They said not only in the milling industry but also other companies are facing the same. Or if the government forces them without giving out proper methods then they will be forced to close down their companies and move to other countries. Then it will be easy for them because they will be importing their commodities to Kenya from their own firms like what companies like Eveready, Cadbury and Pepsi are doing.
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