Nairobi, Jan. 8 -- The decision by the government to lift safeguards on cheap sugar imports from sugarcane-growing members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has rattled the traditionally troubled industry.

On Sunday, the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) announced that Kenya had officially exited the import safeguard regime under the Comesa, ending 24 years of protection from cheap sugar imports from the bloc's other 20 members. The country had sought extensions of the safeguards eight times.

Kenya has been relying on the safeguards from Comesa against cheap imports since 2001 as a means to protect its struggling local sugar industry, where millers, especially state-owned factories, are struggling under the weight of d...