The New Kenya Cooperative Creameries has cut milk prices by five shillings for a 500ml packet from Sh55 to Sh50 following increased supply of the commodity in the market. The new prices became effective on July 2nd 2019 and would benefit consumers of the product who have been paying between Sh55 to Sh60 in the last three months.
The Kenya Dairy Board which is the industry regulator reports that New KCC and Brookside, the two largest milk processors controlling a market share of more than 60 per cent are now processing an average of 1.2m liters of milk daily up from 800,000 liters in November last year.
According to the KDB, the country has the highest milk demand in Africa with a per capita consumption of 110L per person compared to 60L in Uganda, less than 100L in Tanzania and 90L in South Africa.
Kenya produces estimated 5.2bn liters of milk, all of which is consumed leaving a deficit of 100m liters.
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Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta views some of the milk products produced by New KCC’s factory in Sotik, Bomet County during it’s launch last year.
In 2018, the New KCC upgraded its plants in Dandora, Sotik, Eldoret and Uasin Gishu at a cost of one billion shillings to enable it purchase more milk from farmers countrywide.
The Sotik factory for instance which was upgraded at a cost Sh200m has increased the factory’s processing capacity from the previous 60,000 liters to 100,000 liters of raw milk per day. In this, farmers in the region are set to see upturn in their income from Sh850m to about 1.5bn in a year according to data from New KCC.
According to data from the Kenya Dairy Board, the state owned dairy processor has increased its share in the market from 23 per cent to 35 per cent since 2016 after upgrading of factories in Eldoret and Dandora. The New KCC targets to control 40 per cent of the market in future.
The New KCC factories produces milk products such as butter, cheese, fermented milk, milk powder and fresh milk for sale to local markets besides exporting to Tanzania, South Sudan and Saudi Arabia.