Let's Skin Mumias Sugar

[vooke]

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Incisive



https://nation.africa/kenya/business/after-40-years-forget-mumias-sugar-and-just-sell-factory-as-scrap-metal-3562960

[RV Pundit]

Sell it for a shs to Wahindis - and then remove comesa restriction - if bahindi can compete - well and good.

[vooke]

Sell it for a shs to Wahindis - and then remove comesa restriction - if bahindi can compete - well and good.

Bahindi will finya Wafula and then smuggle and repackage sugar

Main problem is, who gets to tell Westerners that they are royally screwed?

[RV Pundit]

If international sugar is allowed - comesa duty free - then wahindi will either compete or the industry dies a natural death. Otherwise the Rais are now making crazy money smuggling sugar.

And of course Somalis in kenya got rich smuggling sugar and rice....

Sell it for a shs to Wahindis - and then remove comesa restriction - if bahindi can compete - well and good.

Bahindi will finya Wafula and then smuggle and repackage sugar

Main problem is, who gets to tell Westerners that they are royally screwed?

[vooke]

I know this Narok realtor Al shabaab.

He told me he is dirt poor yet he has properties worth hundreds of millions.

His richer kinsmen, he said, used to lend to Mumias during Kidero's time to the tune of billions....soft loans, 100% cash for working capital.

Mumias would in turn shut for 'stock taking' or 'maintenance', or simply hoard sugar. Prices would shoot and the Al shabaab would smuggle tens of tonnes of sugar and flood the market. No VAT, no Excise no nothing...and they sell it at market prices

If international sugar is allowed - comesa duty free - then wahindi will either compete or the industry dies a natural death. Otherwise the Rais are now making crazy money smuggling sugar.

And of course Somalis in kenya got rich smuggling sugar and rice....

Sell it for a shs to Wahindis - and then remove comesa restriction - if bahindi can compete - well and good.

Bahindi will finya Wafula and then smuggle and repackage sugar

Main problem is, who gets to tell Westerners that they are royally screwed?

[RV Pundit]

That is how Somalis made serious money to buy serious properties. Its not Easleigh clothes. That is just the front. Its smuggling goods from Kismayu and other ports of Somalia - bribe a few police officers - and you're in Nairobi - where profit margins are 100 percent.  The sugar is re-packed into Mumias and such bags.

Sugar, rice and such commodities are dirty cheap in Somalia because its zero taxes.

We need to do the same in Kenya. We are protecting few hopeless farmers - and they are also crying.

I know this Narok realtor Al shabaab.

He told me he is dirt poor yet he has properties worth hundreds of millions.

His richer kinsmen, he said, used to lend to Mumias during Kidero's time to the tune of billions....soft loans, 100% cash for working capital.

Mumias would in turn shut for 'stock taking' or 'maintenance', or simply hoard sugar. Prices would shoot and the Al shabaab would smuggle tens of tonnes of sugar and flood the market. No VAT, no Excise no nothing...and they sell it at market prices

[Kadudu]

Sell that useless factory to the highest bidder and the rest leave to fate.

Sugar growing in Kenya has proved to be difficult. Better let the farmers try other crops.

[vooke]

That is how Somalis made serious money to buy serious properties. Its not Easleigh clothes. That is just the front. Its smuggling goods from Kismayu and other ports of Somalia - bribe a few police officers - and you're in Nairobi - where profit margins are 100 percent.  The sugar is re-packed into Mumias and such bags.

Sugar, rice and such commodities are dirty cheap in Somalia because its zero taxes.

We need to do the same in Kenya. We are protecting few hopeless farmers - and they are also crying.

I know this Narok realtor Al shabaab.

He told me he is dirt poor yet he has properties worth hundreds of millions.

His richer kinsmen, he said, used to lend to Mumias during Kidero's time to the tune of billions....soft loans, 100% cash for working capital.

Mumias would in turn shut for 'stock taking' or 'maintenance', or simply hoard sugar. Prices would shoot and the Al shabaab would smuggle tens of tonnes of sugar and flood the market. No VAT, no Excise no nothing...and they sell it at market prices

[RV Pundit]

We just allow comesa duty free - sugar - from uganda, malawi, name it.

[RV Pundit]

Maybe it will be profitable once we remove the protection - maybe the mhindi will figured it out. We just need to remove comesa duty - and let it compete with other african sugars.

Sell that useless factory to the highest bidder and the rest leave to fate.

Sugar growing in Kenya has proved to be difficult. Better let the farmers try other crops.

[vooke]

We just allow comesa duty free - sugar - from uganda, malawi, name it.

[RV Pundit]

I hope it happens. The same way Maize was left to die recently. Now people are starting to think about other crops. We need painful decisions on maize and sugar - and milk, eggs too.

Basically agriculture - we need to compete - and avoid taxing consumers twice.

[Arcadian_Dreamer]

Somalia is a haven for quality dollar counterfeiting. I doubt they possess the skills as such, rather, international kirimino rings have it easy there.

I doubt it. USD is virtually impossible to counterfeit. The best counterfeits happen in this country done by West Africans.

[RV Pundit]

We exports coffee. That means we are globally competitive. Western Kenya produces sugar at 3X world price ($800/MT, vis a $250/MT). Tea farmers make Sh100b from same acreage western Kenya sugarcane farmers get <Sh20b. Sugarcane impoverishes Western Kenya, punishes consumers. https://t.co/o3KB6RWCkH

— David Ndii (@DavidNdii) September 27, 2021

[RV Pundit]

Who has the political will to kill sugar cartel - WSR will dismantle it in a few months - just remove all tarrifs on sugar - and let it die- or survive.

Sugar is currently trading at Sh46/kg on world market. Sugar is a rent seekers paradise. A failed protected publicly owned industry is best possible set up for crony capitalist cartels. Meanwhile hope springs eternal in western Kenya that same cartels will fix it. Keep waiting… https://t.co/RMmXhCRic9

— David Ndii (@DavidNdii) September 28, 2021

[Kadudu]

Although it is the right thing to do, do not put your hopes on Ruto. He is a populist and would never dare make this bold decision.

Who has the political will to kill sugar cartel - WSR will dismantle it in a few months - just remove all tarrifs on sugar - and let it die- or survive.

[RV Pundit]

He already did it fro Maize. Somebody need to do it - Maize and Sugar are too important - poor kenyans are suffering - both should be sold for half the prize.

Although it is the right thing to do, do not put your hopes on Ruto. He is a populist and would never dare make this bold decision.

[vooke]

Somalia is a haven for quality dollar counterfeiting. I doubt they possess the skills as such, rather, international kirimino rings have it easy there.

I doubt it. USD is virtually impossible to counterfeit. The best counterfeits happen in this country done by West Africans.

Nope, Chile has always held the title.

[vooke]

He already did it fro Maize. Somebody need to do it - Maize and Sugar are too important - poor kenyans are suffering - both should be sold for half the prize.

Although it is the right thing to do, do not put your hopes on Ruto. He is a populist and would never dare make this bold decision.

But on his Nyanza/Western Kenya blueprint he spoke of revival of the industry

[RV Pundit]

Where is the link? I think for political campaign he wont; but he clearly told western leaders to focus on sunflower. Our 2nd biggest import now is cooking oil from Malaysia and the likes - palm oil. More than 100B kshs is spent annually. This can easily be replaced by sunflower cooking oil.

But on his Nyanza/Western Kenya blueprint he spoke of revival of the industry