Kenyan regulator warns businesses about shrinkflation strategies

Kenyan manufacturers may reduce the size or quantity of products they sell in order to cope with increasing production costs. They may also reformulate their products. But they must tell consumers about it. 

This is according to the Competition Authority of Kenya, which has been reacting to widespread concerns from shoppers about shrinkflation and declining product quality.  

Shrinkflation is making a product smaller or lighter while keeping the price the same. Similarly, skimpflation is when businesses lower the quality of a product or reduce the level of a service while keeping the price the same.  

“The concern from a consumer protection standpoint arises where such changes are inadequately disclosed to consumers, such that they are intentionally or unintentionally misled into believing they are receiving the same value as before,” Competition Authority Director General, David Kemei, told Kenyan daily newspaper The Star. 

Another local publication, Business Today, quotes Consumers Federation of Kenya Secretary General, Stephen Mutoro, as saying that businesses have a legal obligation under the Consumer Protection Act, 2012, to clearly disclose any reduction in product quantity, warning that failure to do so could amount to misleading consumers. 

The federation says consumers have complained about shrinkflation in products such as bread, cooking fat, tissue paper, milk, cooking oil, maize flour, wheat flour, sugar, rice, tea, coffee, juice, soft drinks, toothpaste, detergents and soap. 

Consumers complain about various products 

Mutoro mentioned a specific example of a 400g bread loaf becoming 350g in the same wrapper – at the same price and with no notice. He said this was misrepresentation of quantity and constituted an offence. 

According to Trendtype, the emerging markets consultancy, food inflation in Kenya has averaged 9.26% from 2010 through to 2026. 

“The cost of food in Kenya increased 8.6% in June 2026 over the same month in 2025, down from 9.4% in May 2026,” Trendtype states. It adds that regulators are also cracking down on shrinkflation in various international markets. 

France has required retailers to flag downsized products since July 2024, mandating that supermarkets display notices for two months when a product shrinks and its unit price rises. 

Austria’s Anti-Deceptive Packaging Act came into force in April 2026, mandating clearer consumer information when pack sizes shrink and unit prices rise by more than 3%. 

In May 2026, a German court ruled against Mondelēz after Milka chocolate bars were reduced from 100g to 90g, finding that weight labelling alone was not enough to prevent consumer confusion.