Kenyans across Nairobi and other major urban centers are confronting an intermittent shortage of fresh milk, marked by empty retail shelves, reduced brand options, and sudden price bumps.
In local outlets, standard 500-millilitre packets have recorded price increases of between Ksh.3 and Ksh.5 over the last fortnight. Retail traders report that while consumer demand remains steady, processing companies are delivering drastically lower volumes.
“Kwa sasa ukiangalia, niko na brand moja peke yake ambayo ni Brookside, na on the normal day nakuwa na supply of other brands,” said Joel Mburu, a supermarket branch manager in Kawangware. “Kama hiyo Tuzo unaweza uza in a day like 80 cartons, na hiyo ESL yake kama 50 cartons. Lakini kwa sasa hata hiyo supply ya 80 haupati. Ni kama utapata 20, 10, 30, hiyo ndiyo range unapata.”
He noted that prices for fresh milk brands like Tuzo rose from Ksh.62–Ksh.63 to Ksh.65–Ksh.68, while soft-cover ESL packs climbed from Ksh.50–Ksh.55 to Ksh.58–Ksh.60.
The pinch at the till mirrors serious production bottlenecks in primary dairy belts such as Kericho. Moses Rotich, Chairman of the Kericho Dairy Cooperative Union, pointed to severe feed shortages and high fuel costs as key drivers of the squeeze.
“What the cooperatives societies are really collecting now is below 60 per cent because the most important and most reliable problem we are seeing is the short rainfall that has reduced the production of fodder,” Rotich explained. “When the fuel went up, farmers who used to conserve feed cannot conserve because they are conserving using diesel in tractors, and currently there is no feed in reserves.”
Data from the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) reveals that formal milk deliveries to processors dropped 3.7 per cent, falling from 84.4 million litres in June 2026 to 81.3 million litres in July, with preliminary figures pointing to a further dip in August. The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) similarly raised alarm over declining intake and warned that smallholder farmers—who account for nearly 80 per cent of output—have seen daily yields drop by nearly half, compounded by a 45 per cent jump in commercial animal-feed costs.
Responding to consumer concerns, KDB Managing Director Dr. William Maritim reassured the public that the constraints are temporary and driven by seasonal weather.
“The current situation is largely associated with seasonal factors, particularly the prevailing dry and cold conditions in key milk-producing areas,” the regulator stated, adding that long-life varieties (UHT and ESL) remain comparatively available while pasteurised lines face tighter squeezes.
The regulator expects supply to recover with the onset of the October–November–December 2026 rains, alongside ongoing state distribution of milk coolers and subsidised sexed semen to rebuild national capacity.
