Kenya Orders Sugar Millers to Pay Cane Farmers Within Seven Days
Kenya’s sugar regulator has introduced a seven-day payment deadline for cane delivered to millers, with penalties for non-compliance. The wider reform includes independent weight verification, quality-based payments and measures to improve harvesting and refining capacity.
Seven-day deadline strengthens grower protection
Kenyan sugar millers will be required to pay farmers within seven days of receiving sugarcane under new measures intended to protect growers and improve accountability across the domestic industry. The Star reported that millers failing to meet the deadline will face penalties, although the regulator has not disclosed their size or the date when enforcement will begin.
The Kenya Sugar Board, or KSB, is also addressing disputes over cane weighing. Chief executive Jude Chesire said some farmers reportedly lose up to three tonnes of cane per trailer through disputed deductions, directly reducing their payments. KSB is procuring mobile weighbridges so delivered cane can be weighed independently. It is also supporting cane-testing units as the industry moves from payment based only on weight toward a system that also reflects cane quality and sugar content.
Production rises but remains below demand
The payment reforms arrive as Kenyan sugar production improves but continues to fall short of consumption. Domestic output reached 815,454 metric tonnes in 2024 before declining to 611,576 metric tonnes in 2025. Kenya produced 528,875 metric tonnes between January and July 2026. Monthly production rose to 89,709 metric tonnes in June and reached a record 91,022 metric tonnes in July, according to The Star.
Annual demand is estimated at about 1.2 million metric tonnes, including approximately one million metric tonnes of brown or table sugar and 200,000 metric tonnes of white refined sugar for industrial use. National consumption was approximately 1.216 million metric tonnes in 2025. Kenya therefore continues to cover its deficit with supplies mainly from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community. Imports reached 477,551 metric tonnes in 2025, while another 65,081 metric tonnes of brown sugar entered the country between January and July 2026.
Local refining and harvesting rules target bottlenecks
White refined sugar is a particular concern for the government. KSB estimates that Kenya spends about Sh30 billion annually on its importation. Authorities want to retain more of that expenditure in the domestic economy by increasing cane production and building local refining capacity. Kenya has begun refining imported raw sugar locally rather than depending entirely on finished refined product. Mombasa Sugar Refinery Limited, with installed annual capacity of about 150,000 metric tonnes, imported 27,839 metric tonnes of raw sugar and has started refining it. KSB said safeguards are intended to prevent that raw sugar from entering the table-sugar market before processing.
The regulator is also targeting delays that allow mature cane to deteriorate in fields. Millers have been directed to establish clear harvesting frameworks by September 10, covering cutting, transport and delivery. Longer-term priorities pursued by the Ministry of Agriculture through KSB include expanding cane acreage, raising farm productivity, improving milling efficiency and increasing value addition and refining capacity. The seven-day rule may improve farmers’ working capital and confidence in supplying mills, but it will also require millers to maintain sufficient liquidity and stronger records as production volumes recover.
