Food Prices Set to Ease in February – CBK Survey

The cost of living is set to ease in February with the prices of most food items expected to decline or remain unchanged during the month, a new survey shows.

According to the latest CBK Agriculture sector survey, a majority of traders(61 percent) expect the retail prices of most staple food commodities such as cereals, grains, and vegetables to drop or remain unchanged in February as supply increases.

“The expected moderation of maize and wheat prices is on account of ongoing harvests in Kenya and Tanzania and the expected duty-free importation of maize and rice from February,” the survey noted.

In the near term, the ongoing harvest of rice in Mwea which started in December 2022, is also expected to continue moderating the price of rice.

As for the prices of non-vegetables and vegetables (except tomatoes & traditional vegetables), they are expected to remain the same or decline following the recent short rains.

Further, the price of cooking oil is expected to continue stabilizing after several months of decline in line with falling international palm oil prices.

The expected decline in staple food costs is expected to have a significant effect on the country’s inflation rate which hit a high of 9 percent in January.

An increase in the cost of food, fuel, transport, housing, and other factors are the main drivers of the high inflation rate. according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics(KNBS).

In the survey, traders noted that transport costs, input prices, and weather conditions will continue to impact market prices.

On the other hand, the traders noted that they no longer consider Covid-19 and Russia/Ukraine war to be significant in impacting prices.