- NAIROBI: Kenya's sugar output rose by 5 percent to 548,207 tons in 2009 and imports were down 16 percent to 184,530 tons, the industry regulator said on Tuesday.
"This is the highest production ever achieved in the sugar industry," the Kenya Sugar Board said in an annual statistics report. Mumias Sugar produced 45.3 percent of the total sugar.
Although the east African nation has a deal with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) trade bloc to restrict imports from the bloc to 200,000 tons per year to protect its industry, members supplied only 40 percent.
The main supplier of sugar was Saudi Arabia with 47,479 tons, followed by South Africa with 46,584 tons.
The sugar board said global consumption was outpacing production. Kenya's sugar consumption is estimated at some 750,000 tons in 2009.