| How the cost of food has changed in Kenya | ||||
| Rising tomatoes, cooking oil and sugar costs drive the kitchen budget, but onion prices tumble dramatically. | ||||
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Average Price in
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Change
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| Commodity | June-2024 | June-2025 | Price (Ksh) | Percent (%) |
| Maize flour (2kg)1 | KSh176.00 | KSh184.00 | KSh8.001 | 4.55%1 |
| Cooking Oil (1L)2 | KSh254.00 | KSh289.00 | KSh35.002 | 13.78% |
| Sugar (1kg)2 | KSh147.00 | KSh166.00 | KSh19.002 | 12.93% |
| Milk (UHT - 500Ml) | KSh76.00 | KSh83.00 | KSh7.00 | 9.21% |
| Kale (Sukuma Wiki - 1kg) | KSh31.00 | KSh32.00 | KSh1.00 | 3.23% |
| Tomatoes (1kg)2 | KSh77.00 | KSh96.00 | KSh19.002 | 24.68% |
| Onions (Dry - 1kg)3 | KSh123.00 | KSh78.00 | −KSh45.003 | −36.59%3 |
| 1 Maize flour only went up by Ksh8, but because it’s consumed daily by nearly every household, that 4.55% rise hits harder than it looks on paper. | ||||
| 2 Tomatoes, cooking oil, and sugar together added Ksh73 to the basket — with tomatoes alone surging 25% to nearly Ksh100/kg, the sharpest rise of any essential. | ||||
| 3 Onions saw the sharpest fall, dropping 36.59% (Ksh45 less per kilo). For families, that means a small but real relief in everyday meals like sukuma wiki or stews. | ||||
| Source: World Food Programme, August 2025 | ||||
What are the biggest drivers of the kitchen budget?
The problem is simple: families are struggling with rising food costs, and it’s not always clear which items are driving that squeeze. To answer this, I leveraged market price data from the World Food Programme Price Database and built an ‘essentials basket’ — maize flour, sugar, cooking oil, milk, sukuma wiki, tomatoes, and onions — the foods most households actually rely on every day.
The results: Kenyan households are paying more for food this year — about 5% more for the same shopping basket than they did last June. In 2024, a basket of essentials cost Ksh884. By June 2025, it’s up to Ksh928, a jump of Ksh44.
So what’s behind this increase? The story lies in the way each item in the basket has shifted. Cooking oil, sugar, and tomatoes are the biggest drivers. Cooking oil rose by Ksh35 per litre to Ksh289, while sugar went up Ksh19 per kilo to Ksh166. Tomatoes surged nearly 25%, climbing from Ksh77 to Ksh96 per kilo — the steepest rise of any item. Together, these three foods alone added Ksh73 to the household budget, making them the real culprits of the squeeze.
Staples like maize flour, milk, and sukuma wiki crept up too, though more quietly. Maize flour rose by just Ksh8 — a modest 5% increase — but because it’s bought and consumed daily, the impact is heavier than the numbers suggest. Milk added Ksh7 per half litre, while sukuma wiki ticked up by only Ksh1 per kilo. On their own, these rises look small, but when stacked on top of the big jumps in oil, sugar, and tomatoes, they leave households with less room to breathe.
The only relief came from onions, which tumbled by 37%, dropping from Ksh123 to Ksh78 per kilo. That fall shaved Ksh45 off the basket, easing the burden in everyday meals like stews and sukuma wiki. But even with onions softening the blow, the net effect is still higher prices overall.
In the end, the basket tells a simple story: while one or two items are cheaper, the bigger drivers — oil, sugar, and tomatoes — are pushing kitchen costs higher. Families are left paying Ksh44 more than last year for the same food, turning the weekly market run into a careful balancing act between what’s essential, what’s affordable, and what can be left behind.