Milk shortages have pushed vendors who rely on milky tea to cut servings and lift prices, disrupting the morning trade that many small businesses depend on. Supermarket chilled shelves are noticeably depleted, retailers are limiting how much each customer can buy, and consumers are seeing fresh milk costs climb as supplies tighten.
Restaurant owner Muthoni Macharia, who normally buys more than 70 packets of fresh milk, said she has been searching for stock and asked, "Where has the milk gone?" She reported shortages lasting about a week and warned that groups of customers will leave if milk tea is unavailable. Urban sellers report weaker sales and some have begun diluting the milk they can find to stretch supplies for families.
The Kenya Dairy Board and its managing director, William Maritim, described the problem as a "temporary supply constraint" and said pasteurised fresh milk has suffered more than long-life UHT products. Formal milk deliveries to processors fell by 3.7% from 84.4 million litres in June to 81.3 million litres in July, and preliminary checks point to further reductions in August, tightening the available retail stock.
The Consumer Federation of Kenya traced the squeeze to delayed seasonal rains that reduced grazing and to a 45% jump in animal feed costs. Cofek criticised state and industry actors for failing to convert last year’s surplus into powder buffers, saying, "This shortage was foreseeable, and in material part, avoidable." The group added, "Had these buffers been in place, today's supply shock would have been substantially cushioned," and urged measures including fodder support, feed-input tax relief and active retail price monitoring.
Shoppers described the pressure on household budgets. Bernard Abok said he often finds no milk on supermarket visits, and when he does the price has already risen. Other customers have started stretching what they buy so it lasts longer for children, a coping step that underlines how quickly a staple can become scarce.
The agriculture ministry has met dairy processors and pledged support to stabilise supplies, protect consumers and expand farmer access to feed, including duty-free yellow maize imports. Officials are also weighing longer-term measures to smooth swings between surplus and shortage and the government is considering funding to help preserve milk during gluts so producers do not have to dispose of perishable output when processing or storage capacity is limited. If implemented, those steps would reduce the chance of repeated disruption, but they will take time to affect what consumers find on store shelves.
