Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) member states are split on the continuous protection granted to Kenya's sugar sector limiting duty-free importation of the sweetener from the regional bloc as the clock ticks towards the expiry of the seventh window of the safeguard measures next month.‎‎This comes as Nairobi mulls on the partial reopening of its sugar sector to duty-free imports from Comesa, on the grounds that the country has achieved “significant” progress in sugar production, though still not sufficient.

 

Kenya has enjoyed the Comesa-backed protectionist measures for its sugar industry for over two decades, limiting the amount of sugar exported to Nairobi from the 21-member bloc to up to 350,000 tonnes annually.‎‎The safeguards were meant to allow Kenya time to reform its struggling sugar sector to boost production, diversify revenue sources and improve competitiveness.

But Comesa Secretary-General Dev Anand Haman says the safeguard measures granted to Kenya have taken too long and some members states are uncomfortable with it. Haman said it would require a lot of “convincing” from the government for Nairobi to be granted more extensions.“Kenya is already on its seventh extension. Now, there are countries that have been against this extension and there are countries that are for the extension because, at the end of the day, we are here to help each other,” Dr Haman told The EastAfrican.“We have to help each other. If your country is asking a safeguard measure and I’m sure if they make that request -- because we now have a Safeguard Measures Committee -- if they present the case convincingly, it will be considered. But they would have to convince the committee why they want that safeguard measure.”On November 23, 2023, the Comesa Council of Ministers sitting in Lusaka gave Kenya another two-year extension of safeguard measures to enable the government to conclude the process of transforming the sugar industry and enhance the sector’s competitiveness in readiness for full integration into the Comesa free trade regime.

This was, the seventh extension of these sugar protectionist measures against an allowable limit of five years under the Comesa trade rules. The two-year extension period elapses in November 2025.

According to the Comesa secretariat, the sugar-producing countries within the bloc would sit down to listen to the Kenyan case and, if satisfied, they could grant the extension.“Kenya’s sugar safeguards have been on the drawing board for too long and we expected that by now your sugar sector is competitive enough, but we also know that there are a lot of other challenges that Kenya went through, so they have to make that request and it is something which is not the secretariat’s to decide,” Dr Haman said. “These are things that are negotiated on the table.”

Kenya says it has made significant progress in sugar production and a decision will be made on whether to request for reduced volume of the duty-free imports from Comesa, based on the country’s latest data on sugar production versus deficit.

Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade, and Industry Lee Kinyanjui told The EastAfrican that the decision on whether to apply for extension of sugar safeguard measures will be made on expiry of current safeguard measures, “on account of the production.”“We are increasing acreage under sugar. Instead of the whole quantity, we can say reduce, but that depends on the numbers we will be given when we compare our production versus the deficit. So, I can’t make that determination today.”The average annual consumption of table sugar in Kenya is 1.04 million tonnes, with the shortfall covered by imports from Comesa and the East African Community under existing protocols.

Nairobi is allowed to import up to 350,000 tonnes of duty-free sugar from Comesa to bridge part of the local deficit.

Mr. Kinyanjui said Western Kenya has “huge sugar cane plantations coming up, so, we are trying to create local production.”“We are not yet there, but Kenya has the potential to be self-sufficient in sugar production. This ministry is not wired towards encouraging imports, but towards exports,” the minister said.

Kenya applies for protection of its sugar sector by way of safeguards under Article 61 of the Comesa Treaty to ensure that sugar imports from the bloc are subjected to tariff rate quotas.

Kenya was granted a Comesa safeguard in 2000 that restricted duty free imports from the region of up to 200,000 tonnes. The safeguard was to allow the country to restructure and become a more efficient sugar producer.

The measures were implemented in March 2002 for an initial period of one year, but have subsequently been renewed seven times.

Comesa issued a raft of measures to Kenya on the road to freeing up the sugar sector, including privatisation of the ailing sugar millers, sugar factories diversifying revenue streams such as the production of ethanol and cogeneration, changing of payment formula and increasing production capacity.

The sale of the struggling state-owned sugar millers, a key condition for the provision of safeguard measures, has been derailed by court cases and political interference, leading to the government to opt for leasing.

The United States Department of Agriculture has warned of looming sugar shortage in Kenya, blamed on shrinking farms and declining processing, opening a window for increased imports to stabilise prices.

Kenya’s area under cane harvesting is expected to drop to 150,000 hectares in the 2025/2026 marketing year, from 190,000 hectares, due to lower proportion of mature plantations, which resulted from aggressive harvesting in 2024/2025.

Kenya’s main cane-growing regions are in the Western and Lake Victoria basin, with 93 percent of the cane produced by 320,000 small-scale farmers on less than one-hectare individual holdings, and the large plantations owned by millers producing the remainder.

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