The Mombasa Tea Auction has been fully automated to boost efficiency and transparency. East Africa Tea Trade Association (EATTA), which runs the auction said that the new Integrated Tea Trading System (iTTS) costs Sh230 million. The automation was funded by the Danish International Development Agency (Danida) through Trade Mark East Africa, said EATTA chairman Arthur Sewe. Mr Sewe said automation of the auction will reduce the period in the tea trading cycle as well as direct costs associated with the auction process. The iTTS project automated the manual processes along the tea value chain and stakeholders hope it will enhance tea volumes traded at the auction and productivity. He said iTTS will ensure availability and access to tea trade data in a timely, reliable, accurate and verifiable manner. “When fully implemented, iTTS will significantly reduce the need for physical presence or representation. It will simplify the tea trading process, reducing, among other things, the learning curve for new entrants into the tea sector and streamlining of processes,” Mr Sewe said. He noted that automation will contribute to an increase in the income of farmers even in the event that prices remain constant. Mr Sewe explained that the digital platform will enable tea packers to effectively participate in the auction and enhance the opportunities for marketing and selling value-added teas. KTDA board chairman David Ichoho expressed hope that smallholder farmers will gain following the automation of the auction. [Sammy Omingo, Standard] “iTTS will increase the volumes of tea sold at the auction. Transparency in...

Transporters using the Northern Corridor have been bearing some of the highest costs in the world, reflecting how shortage of arteries is impeding the competitiveness of the East African region to trade. According to a survey carried out by the Shippers Council of East Africa (SCEA) , transport costs in the region are estimated at $1.8 per km per container against international best practices of $1 per km per container. “The most expensive route to transport cargo was Kampala-Mombasa at $2.5 per tonne followed by Mombasa-Kampala at $2.17, Dar es Salaam-Kampala $1.17 and Bujumbura-Dar es Salaam at $1.02 per tonne,” the SCEA Logistics Performance Survey 2021 report says. “The top three least expensive international routes were Dar es Salaam-Bujumbura at $0.02 per tonne, followed by Dar es Salaam-Kigali at $ 0.17 and Nairobi-Dodoma at $0.1 per tonne.” The Northern Corridor road network covers 12,707km (1,323.6km in Kenya; 2,072km in Uganda; 1,039.4 km in Rwanda; 567km in Burundi; 4,162 km in DRC and 3,543km in South Sudan). The port of Mombasa is the key entry and exit point for cargo belonging to a vast hinterland that includes Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. The port also serves Tanzania, Somalia and Ethiopia. High logistics costs The report summarises average transport cost per metric tonne, assuming a payload of 24 metric tonnes per 40-foot container. Speaking at a webinar by the East African Business Council and TradeMark Africa, National Logistics Platform in Uganda chair Merian Sebunya appealed to governments to...

The main focus for the EAC SMC is to ensure that standards are developed for the most traded commodities in the region. Secondly, for products that are thought to gain a market outside the EAC the SMC ensures that these standards too are developed accordingly. The East African Standards Management Committee is responsible for the development of harmonised standards in all the sectors i.e. products and services. The main role of the SMC is to provide support to technical committees in the EAC to have agreement on standards intended for harmonization so that products can easily cross borders within the seven (7) East African Community (EAC) partner states. There are currently 64 Technical Committees in the EAC which are spread across the sectors of engineering, chemical & consumer products, food & agriculture and Management & financial services. The main focus for the EAC SMC is to ensure that standards are developed for the most traded commodities in the region. Secondly, for products that are thought to gain a market outside the EAC the SMC ensures that these standards too are developed accordingly. The good thing with the EAC SMC is that the need for standards is as a result of studies which have been undertaken by the private sector organisations such as the East African Business Council, as well as development partners such as TradeMark Africa (TMA) on cross border trade of products. These studies are instrumental in identifying standards that need to be developed. It is therefore not by...

Six British nationals based in Kenya are among 1,134 recipients of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honours for their contributions to public life, including TradeMark Africa chief executive Frank Matsaert. The awards were given ahead of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations as she marks 70 years on the throne in a four-day fete in the UK, which began on Thursday. The honours went to UK nationals worldwide for their contribution to “sustained public service, the environment and sustainability, and youth engagement.” Mr Matsaert is the founding CEO of the trade aid agency that has been helping in the integration of the East African Community (EAC) by supporting cross-border trade since 2010. The Nairobi-based TradeMark Africa has been involved in the development of one-stop border posts in EAC, the Mombasa port, and the upgrade of customs systems for revenue authorities in Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda. “I am deeply honoured by the Queen and UK Government for this recognition of TradeMark Africa’s work in supporting trade and economic development in Eastern Africa over the last twelve years. It has been a privilege and an honour to found and lead such a dynamic and impactful organisation,” said Mr Matsaert. Mr Matsaert was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his “services to trade and economic development in East Africa.” Reverend Clive Beckenham and his wife Mary, founders of Nairobi-based children’s New Life Home Trust, got an MBE for “services to abandoned and vulnerable children with HIV in Kenya.” The...

Most major airports have community systems for information exchange between clients and the national customs and other authorities. These systems are a form of a Single Window for Trade. An airport community system also called a cargo community system, is a neutral and open electronic platform enabling intelligent and secure information exchange between public and private stakeholders to improve the competitive position of airport communities. A cargo community system handles electronic communications in airports between private transport operators — airlines, agents, freight forwarders, transit sheds and transporters, the private hinterland (pre-and on-carriage, usually by road), importers and exporters, the airport authorities, customs and other government agencies. The airfreight product mix at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has had negligible improvement with dependency on agro-perishables as the main driver. With the emergence of e-commerce as a driver in the growth of the airfreight product in more developed economies, this is yet to be largely exploited locally despite the existing potential driven by the exponential growth of the youth demographic and ever-increasing mobile telephony penetration. The unavailability of easily accessible data from a singular source of truth is at the core of this quagmire. In addition to confusion and frustration, information overload can also negatively impact the decision-making that is required to influence purchase criteria. Of course, there have been various developments in the automation of airfreight processing activities in the economy. The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) are among the State...

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 coupled with conflicts in some parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will delay the completion of the one-stop border post (OSBP) at Goli and Mahagi. DRC and TradeMark Africa (TMA) signed the contract to begin construction of the OSBP at Mahagi in Ituri Province, on the border with Uganda on April 16, 2020. “With Goli-Mahagi, we have had a few challenges on the DRC side. The Ugandan side was complete in a period of about six months. The DRC side is a bit more complex because of some unrest on the DRC side which interrupted civil works and there have been some cost overruns. “We may be able to complete probably in the next nine months,” Frank Matsaert, the chief executive officer of TMA, said. Matsaert was addressing the media on some of the ongoing projects being implemented by TMA to smoothen trade flow across borders in Kampala on Thursday. Matsaert added: “The balance sheets of construction companies were also weak (due to the effects of the pandemic) and what we found is that this has been a challenge across the region.” The Goli-Mahagi border is one of DRC’s busiest border crossings, located at the axis linking the popular centres of Arua (Uganda), Bunia (DRC), Kisangani (DRC) and the port of Mombasa (Kenya) along the Northern Corridor. The planned OSBP border between Uganda and DRC is aimed at modernising the border infrastructure at Goli-Mahagi and to improve the handling of...

The port of Mombasa has a capacity of 2.65m TEUs with 19 berths The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, has paid a working visit to Kenya’s Port of Mombasa to witness first-hand improvements in ports infrastructure that has led to significant growth in the country’s trade within the East African region. Port Mombasa is a gateway port to most of the landlocked nations in East Africa and currently serves about eight states within the bloc including Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, and South Sudan. General Manager of Port Operations at Kenya Port Authority, Sudi Nwasinago, said the port has been able to overcome the challenge of congestion and doubled its container traffic. He said the port now has a cruise terminal which has turnaround the port’s fortunes and catapulted the nation’s tourism industry. “The cruise terminal is one area that has truly benefited the port authority and the country at large if we are to talk about tourism which is a big revenue earner to state,” he added. The Kenya Port Authority has for the past decade been working with Trademark East Africa, an organization funded by a range of development agencies with the aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through trade. In the past, cargo trucks spent 13days before completing clearance and exiting the Mombasa Port but they now take 3days. Cargo from Mombasa to Kampala, the capital of the landlocked nation of Uganda, which used to take 21days, now takes between five to six days. Mr....

Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECCSA), launched the Ethiopian Chamber Digital Service (ECDS), a digital system that enables the chamber to provide its services online to its members, the business community and the public at large. Irish Aid Ethiopia through TradeMark Africa (TMA) funded the development of ECDS; with the support channelled to supply the ICT infrastructure and software development. ECDS will move ECCSA services from manual and physical visit to digitized services in which traders get trade facilitation services at their convenient time and place, specially enabling ECCSA and its members to register their members online.  Moreover, it paves a way for companies to get registered and renew membership online and pay fees electronically. Ultimately, the electronic system contributes to the ease of doing business in Ethiopia by enabling traders to easily fulfil requirements and reduce transaction costs of trade. In addition to trade facilitation and membership management, ECDS has automated trade and investment promotion service, chamber academy, identifying Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs), legal counselling and arbitration services, putting in one place key trade information for ease of access and dissemination. It becomes a single source for chamber services with lesser cost and time. ECDS is integrated to the Ethiopia Electronic Single Window System (EeSWS), and telebirr to further enhance the issuance of the Certificate of Origin and other trade facilitation. Presiding over the launch, his excellency Ato G/Meskel Chala, Minister of Trade and Regional Integration said ‘’ECCSA is highly appreciated to prepare and implement this new Project...

TRADEMARK East Africa (TMA) in partnership with the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) have embarked on the second phase of the Integrated Standards, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing” (iSQMT) system that seeks to enhance service delivery. The TradeMark Africa Country Director Monica Hangi elaborates a point during an exclusive interview with The Guardian Newspaper held at the TradeMark office in Dar es Salaam. Photo by Geoffrey Nangai. This follows the successful completion and launch of first phase of the (iSQMT) system last year that automated the standardisation and quality control of products and services provided by TBS. Through the system, TBS automated its core processes that include standards development, product certification, system certification, import inspection, metrology and testing. The iSQMT was also integrated to the e-Government payment gateway platforms which guarantee fully automated processes from application, payment and acquisition of the final product (certificate/permit). The Foreign Commonwealth development office, Ireland, and Norway funded the development of these systems with a contribution of $600,000 for the iSQMT portal and US$350,000 for the e-learning platform. The TradeMark Africa Country Director Monica Hangi while speaking to The Guardian in an exclusive interview held at the TradeMark office in Dar es Salaam said the completion of the second phase of iSQMT system will enhance the standards and quality control, adding that plans are underway for accreditation of four of TBS testing laboratories. “During the second phase of the system, our target is to at least accredit testing laboratories for TBS in Dar es Salaam...

KAMPALA – The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is set to decentralise its laboratory testing services to its Regional Offices in Mbarara, Gulu and Mbale following a boost in Laboratory Testing Equipment donated by Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) with support from the Danish Government. During the official launch of laboratory equipment used for testing of products geared towards fighting against COVID-19, the Danish Ambassador to Uganda, H.E Nicolaj A. Hejberg Petersen, said that Danida through TMA is facilitating the decentralisation of the UNBS testing centres in three major cities of Mbarara, Gulu and Mbale by purchasing laboratory equipment worth USD 1,885,280 (approximately UGX 6.9 billion) to help take testing services closer to the people. Laboratory testing is instrumental in: Securing export markets for Ugandan products by carrying out tests required by the International markets. Testing locally manufactured products especially from SMEs to check their conformity with the quality standards, thus helping the manufacturers improve product quality and access market. Assisting local manufacturers and researchers in product development by testing their samples to determine conformity during the development process. Protecting consumers by testing products on the market (both imported and locally made) to ensure that they are safe for human consumption. “Denmark is passionate about promoting private sector development in Uganda and the decentralisation of testing services will promote a conducive business environment, ensure improved quality of products and contribute to efficiency in UNBS’ service delivery.” H. E Nicolaj A. Hejberg Petersen added. The UNBS Executive Director, Mr. David...