Maize Flour & 3 Goods Whose Production Decreased In 1 Year- Report
According to the report, other products whose volume of production recorded a drop included sugar, assembled vehicles and cement production.
Marvin Chege 
The 2024 Economic Survey Report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released on Monday, May 20 revealed that the production of four goods declined between 2022 and 2023, among them maize flour.
According to the report, other products whose volume of production recorded a drop included sugar, assembled vehicles and cement production.
The data showed that the production of sugar, a common commodity in households, declined by 40.6 per cent to 472.8 thousand tonnes in 2023.
Production in terms of assembled vehicles declined by 2.7 per cent to 13,106 vehicles in 2023 whereas production of cement dropped by 1.8 per cent to 9,616.0 thousand tonnes in 2023.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u speaking during the launch of the 2024 Economic Survey Report on May 20, 2024. /KNBS
In not-so-surprising circumstances, maize flour production declined by 2.2 per cent to 625.5 thousand tonnes in 2023, in what might be viewed as a change of fortunes owing to the high cost of maize flour.
On the flip side, production of processed milk went up by 19.2 per cent to 552.9 million litres in 2023 whereas production of wheat flour increased by 5.2 per cent to 1,496 thousand tonnes in 2023.
Production of soft drinks, that is sodas, increased from 579.5 million litres in 2022 to 580.5 million litres in 2023. For galvanized sheets, production went up by 10.7 per cent to 272.5 thousand tonnes in 2023.
Also in the report, the agriculture sector registered a stellar bounce back from a negative of 2.3 per cent in 2022.
"Agriculture sector reversed the negative growth trend recorded since 2021 to register a growth of 7.0 per cent in 2023," the report read in part.
Tea, maize, sugarcane, horticultural exports and milk all registered upward trends within the one-year period, with the exception of coffee which declined by 7.4 billion to 19.9 billion in 2023.
The quantity of fish landed decreased by 7.1 per cent from 173.7 thousand tonnes in 2022 to 161.3 thousand tonnes in 2023. The total value of fish landed decreased by 2.9 per cent to Ksh35.9 billion in 2023.
For mineral production, the total value of minerals produced declined by 4.3 per cent from Ksh35.2 billion in 2022 to Ksh33.7 billion in 2023. In particular, the value of titanium ore minerals recorded a decrease of 14.3 per cent from Ksh28.3 billion in 2022 to Ksh24.2 billion in 2023.
The annual overall inflation rate in 2023 remained at 7.7 per cent and was mainly driven by high energy prices.
Additionally, Kenya's GDP grew by 5.6% in 2023 from a revised growth of 4.9% in 2022 with all economic activities registering positive growths except mining and quarrying.
