Kenya to import yellow maize

A view of a maize field in Mpumalanga province

A view of a maize field in Mpumalanga province

Published Feb 17, 2017

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Johannesburg - Kenya has approved the import of 5 million

bags, or 450 000 metric tons, of yellow corn from Ukraine as a drought slashes

its own output of the grain.

The imports, the first of the variety since 2011, will be

distributed to animal feed millers, said Johnson Irungu, Director of Crops at

the Ministry of Agriculture, in an interview on Thursday.

Arrival of the corn from Ukraine will free up more

locally grown white corn for human consumption, said Jacques Pienaar, an

analyst at South Africa’s Commodity Insight Africa.

Read also:  SA's maize crop shrinks

Corn yields in Kenya this season have halved because of

the drought, the National Drought Management Authority said on February 6.

The imports will cost $260 to $270 a ton if landed at the

port of Mombasa, according to Pienaar. That would mean a total cost of about

$119 million.

“It will basically help” ease pressure on white corn

supplies, Pienaar said by phone. “It will definitely make a dent.”

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