Kenya suffered a 4.3pc decline in the value of minerals production which fell from Ksh 35.2 billion in 2022 to Ksh 33.7 billion last year.
The decline was due to a drop in the value of titanium ores which fell by more than Ksh 4 billion during the period under review according to latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
“The value of titanium ore minerals (ilmenite, rutile and zircon) recorded a decrease of 14.5pc from Ksh 28.3 billion in 2022 to Ksh 24.2 billion in 2023,” said KNBS in its 2024 Economic Survey.
Total production of titanium ore minerals went down by 36.5pc to 280,698 from 441,940 tonnes on account of a 59pc decline in rutile production which decreased from 163,242 tonnes to 67,604 tonnes and zircon whose production declined from 90,698 tonnes in 2022 to 21,094 tonnes last year, a 77pc drop.
Only ilmenite recorded production increase of 2pc from 188,000 a year earlier to 192,000 in 2023.
Soda ash production also suffered decline of 25.2pc from 321,779 tonnes to 240,784 last year.
“The value of soda ash decreased by 15pc from Ksh 2 billion in 2022 to Ksh 1.7 billion in 2023,” said the bureau.
Gold production also recorded a decline from 563,600 tonnes to 410,000 tonnes as value of earnings also decline to Ksh 3.2 billion from Ksh 3.4 billion during the period under review.
There was however favourable earnings per tonne of soda ash, salt and titanium ore and concentrate last year.
The average export price per tonne of soda ash increased from Ksh 41,731 in 2022 to Ksh 47,550 in 2023 while the average export price per tonne of salt increased by 4.4pc to Ksh 14,329.
Similarly, the average export price per tonne of titanium ore minerals increased by 0.4pc, from Ksh 69,185 to Ksh 69,451 during the review period.
