Kenya: Eveready shuts battery plant

EVEREADY East Africa will close its manufacturing plant for dry cell batteries in Kenya and rely on supply from its affiliate’s factory in Egypt. The company, which also sells personal care products like shavers, blamed the move on the decline of the D size battery market in Kenya due to illegal, cheaper imports. Eveready said in a statement this week that relying on supplies of batteries from Energizer’s Egypt factory would lead to an income drop for its financial year to September, compared with the previous year. Eveready has produced the batteries at its plant in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru for decades. It has set up a property company that will use the factory’s 8 hectares of land as its flagship development project. – Reuters