List Of Food, Non Food Items Whose Retail Prices Increased Over The Last One Year

• Key food items such as onions, spinach, tomatoes, kale, oranges, beef, and potatoes have seen substantial price hikes, with onions experiencing the highest increase at 67.7%
• Prices of non-food commodities like charcoal, electricity, diesel, and petrol have also risen significantly, contributing to the overall inflation rate
• The overall annual headline inflation rate rose to 5.1% in May 2024, up from 5.0% in April 2024

Elijah Ntongai, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, has more than three years of financial, business, and technology research expertise, providing insights into Kenyan and global trends.

Nairobi - The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has released its latest report detailing the changes in average retail prices of selected commodities over the past year.

The report, covering the period from May 2023 to May 2024, highlights significant price increases in various food and non-food items.

The KNBS report noted that the inflation figures are derived from a comprehensive survey of retail prices, covering a representative basket of household consumption goods and services across 50 data collection zones in Kenya.

Food items whose prices increased

Several essential food items have experienced notable price hikes:

• Onions (1 Kg) prices increased by a staggering 67.7%.
• Spinach (1 Kg) prices surged by 30.9%.
• Tomatoes (1 Kg) prices rose by 29.7%.
• Kale - Sukuma Wiki (1 Kg) prices increased by 27.7%.
• Orange (1 Kg) prices went up by 19.1%.
• Beef with Bones (1 Kg) prices saw a rise of 14.0%.
• Potatoes (1 Kg) prices increased by 10.0%.

Non-food items whose prices increased

In the non-food category, several commodities also saw significant price increases:

• Charcoal (1 Kg) prices rose by 16.8%.
• Electricity (50 Kilowatts) prices increased by 7.3%.
• Diesel (1 Litre) prices went up by 6.4%.
• Petrol (1 Litre) prices increased by 5.5%.

These price increases have contributed to the overall annual headline inflation rate, which rose to 5.1% in May 2024, up from 5.0% in April 2024.

The rise in inflation is primarily driven by the transport sector (8.1%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.2%), and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (4.4%).

Inflation drops in May compared to April

In other related news, Kenya's inflation dropped to 5% in April 2024, a 0.7% decline from 5.7% as reported in March 2024.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicated a relatively high increase in prices of fuel and some food items.

Prices of sugar went up by 9.2% despite a resumption of local manufacturing, while electricity prices dropped by 1%.

Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke