Uganda loses top slot as buyer of Kenya’s exports on 35pc fall

PUBLISHED ON June 7th, 2016

Uganda loses top slot as buyer of Kenya’s exports on 35pc fall

Exports to Uganda have dropped by 35 per cent in the first quarter of the year, ending the landlocked state’s dominance as top destination for Kenya’s exports.

Provisional data produced by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicate that exports to Uganda dropped to Sh8.58 billion in the first three months of 2016 compared to Sh13.3 billion the same quarter last year.

For the first time in more than a decade, Uganda falls to fourth position after Netherlands which tops the list with Sh11.89 billion worth of goods followed by UK which ordered Sh10.79 billion and US which accounted for Sh9.06 billion.

Netherlands mainly orders Kenya’s flowers which it sells via its many auctions. Like UK, it is a member of the European Union which has extended duty-and-quota-free terms to Kenya and other developing countries under economic partnership agreements.

Tanzania— which has been consistent in the recent past as second top export destination after Uganda — has also been dislodged to the seventh position after recording marginal drop of Sh5.25 billion compared to Sh5.81 billion the same period last year.

Kenya initially showed strong affinity to the landlocked states in East Africa but of late, Uganda and Rwanda have drifted towards Tanzania with plans to link up their economies through crude pipeline and standard gauge railway line.

The figures released last week indicate that apart from Uganda and Tanzania, exports to all other top destinations grew with Pakistan and Egypt also emerging as preferred markets for Kenyan goods.

Pakistan, which mainly buys Kenya’s tea, ordered goods worth Sh7.4 billion in the first quarter, up from Sh6.8 billion the same period last year.

The figures show that Egypt which — also buys unprocessed tea leaves (96 per cent of export sales), spices, tobacco, textile fibres, powder milk, soda ash and fresh fruits — ordered Kenyan goods worth Sh5.23 billion or 38 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Generally, exports increased in the first quarter of the year, significantly cutting trade deficit as imports fell over the period.

Exports grew to Sh123.92 billion in the three months to March while import dropped over the period to Sh321.5 billion from Sh355.7 billion the previous year.

During the period, China re-emerged as the top source of imports to Kenya after traders significantly cut their orders from India which led in the first quarter of 2015.

Imports from India dropped by 13 per cent to stand at Sh57.09 billion while China grew by 30 per cent from Sh50.36 billion to Sh65.28 billion by March.

Source: Business Daily

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