The government has allowed the importation of 100,000 metric tonnes of duty-free sugar over the next three months.

In a gazette notice, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u says the import window is meant to ease the sugar crisis in the country that has seen the price of the sweetener increase.

The government had earmarked key foodstuffs for import duty exemption including white maize and rice to reduce the prices of the commodities.

According to the National Treasury, 100 thousand tonnes of sugar is required to solve the current crisis that has pushed up the price of the sweetener.

This comes just months after Kenya cut her sugar imports by almost half after local millers increased production by 11 percent.

The latest data from Kenya Sugar Board shows that total sugar crushed in October this year was 836,554 tonnes, up 23 percent month-on-month on the 680 thousand tonnes produced in September.

During the period under review, total sugar production was 74,082 tones up from 60,388 tonnes produced the previous month.

Total sugar imports for the month of October were 13,933 metric tonnes for both white refined and milled white or brown sugar. This is 32 percent lower than the 20,326 metric tonnes produced in September.