The UK Government has announced it will help British businesses strengthen their global supply chains by supporting workers in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana during the coronavirus pandemic. The facility, made up of £4.85 million (Shs 23bn) UK aid and £2 million (Shs 9.5bn) from businesses, will focus primarily on supply chains and workers in Uganda, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana. These countries provide huge proportions of the world’s food, flowers and clothes. Ghana alone produces a quarter of the world’s cocoa and Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter. The programme will help UK high street businesses, including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Co-op and Waitrose, to strengthen their global supply chains by supporting workers in developing countries during the coronavirus pandemic. The UK imports 20% of its food and drink from developing countries. The coronavirus pandemic has put many of these supply chains at risk as factories and farms worldwide have been forced to close temporarily. The new Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility will help to ensure the steady supply of products like vegetables, coffee and clothes to the UK high street. The programme will strengthen community health care systems and deliver targeted health messaging in factories to help employees keep themselves and their families safe. International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “We want to ensure people in Britain can continue to buy affordable, high quality goods from around the world”. “This new fund will strengthen vital supply chains for UK consumers,...

The Regional Integration and Trade Division at United Nations Economic Commission for Africa released a report entitled “Facilitating cross-border trade through a coordinated African response to COVID-19”. The report provides a critical assessment of existing border restrictions and regulations, with a view to providing guidance on how to strike an appropriate balance between curbing the long term spread of the virus and facilitating emergency and essential trade, according to United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Stephen Karingi, Director of Regional Integration and Trade Division, commenting on the report, noted that COVID-19 may become the new normal for some time, forcing African Governments to adapt and innovate in order to facilitate new safe ways of conducting cross-border trade. Maintaining trade flows as much as possible during the pandemic will be crucial in providing access to essential food and medical items and in limiting negative impacts on jobs and poverty. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly all African countries have imposed various degrees of restrictions on cross-border movement of goods and people, including suspension of international flights, quarantine requirements for entrants, and closures of land and maritime borders. Under a set of strict regulations, these closures target reducing movement of people while allowing exemptions for the movement of emergency and essential freight supplies. Such regulations typically cover mandatory testing, sanitizing trucks, limiting the numbers of crew members, and designating transit resting areas. These restrictions and regulations have helped in the continent’s COVID-19 battle, but they have also had negative impacts on cross-border trade...

Government has embarked on a campaign to build modern medical infrastructure at the border points of Busia, Malaba, Mutukula and Elegu. The project which will require local authorities and members of the public to offer land for construction of the facilities, is aimed at improving health services for local and foreigners who use the border points. This was revealed by Diana Atwine the Permanent Secretary to the ministry of Read the original article Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of TradeMark Africa.

14 August 2020: The Tech for Growth programme, launched by the Department for International Trade this week, aims to build trading opportunities between the UK and emerging economies. The UK Department for International Trade (DIT)’s new Tech for Growth programme will build future trading opportunities between the UK and emerging economies through the use of technology to expand access to financial services, the government announced this week. The programme will initially be piloted across Africa for a year. Access to financial services remains low across the continent; aound 60% of adults in sub-Saharan African still do not have access to traditional means of financial services, including banking and insurance. Mobile phone use has risen to over 40%, and the DIT believes that technology can play an increasing role in expanding access to financial services and other sectors. In that first year, the programme aims to establish a UK-Africa ‘Tech for Growth’ community, providing more access to financial services in underserved regions. It will include events across the UK and Africa to promote partnerships between British and African technology and financial services companies. It also looks to establish UK-Africa FinTech trade by highlighting commercial opportunities and addressing any hurdles that are holding back growth in that area. The DIT wants to establish close, collaborative relationships with African governments and regulators to help stimulate the growth of the tech sector across the continent. “Diversifying and increasing trade and investment in sectors such as tech will be crucial for economic recovery from Coronavirus,...

The WTO Secretariat has published a new information note warning of possible increases to trade costs due to COVID-19 disruptions. The note examines the pandemic’s impact on key components of trade costs, particularly those relating to travel and transport, trade policy, uncertainty, and identifies areas where higher costs may persist even after the pandemic is contained. The note estimates that travel and transport costs account for as much as a third of trade costs depending on the sector. Pandemic-related travel restrictions are therefore likely to affect trade costs for as long as they remain in place. For example, global air cargo capacity shrank by 24.6 per cent in March 2020, as passenger flights account for around half of air cargo volumes. The resulting increase in air freight prices is likely to subside only with a rebound in passenger transport, according to the report. While sea and land transport have not faced comparable shocks, maritime transport has seen a decrease in numbers of sailings, while international land transport has been affected by border closures, sanitary measures and detours. Moreover, business travel, which is important for maintaining trading relationships and managing global value chains, in addition to being a significant economic activity in its own right, is being disrupted. The quality of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and digital preparedness will be important in determining how well economies can cope. Trade policy barriers and regulatory differences are estimated to account for at least 10 per cent of trade costs in all...

In Summary Mr John Lwere, the Uganda Export Promotion Board trade and information executive, said the growing export earnings could be re-exports from DR Congo since the country’s deposits are still little. Export earnings have rebounded after three months of recording a decline. Earning, mainly from coffee, fish, flowers and cement, some of which had experienced some volatility, recovered during the period ended June to fetch Uganda growth of at least Shs172b. According to data from Bank of Uganda, Uganda exported goods worth $337m (Shs1.2 trillion) up from $290m (Shs1 trillion) in May. The earnings, which grew by 16.6 per cent could have been influenced by the easing of the lockdown that had been effected in the three months running from late March to June. During the period, Middle East and Comesa, came out as the leading export destinations with some minimal exports recorded in the previous traditional market destinations such the European Union and US. The Bank of Uganda report shows that gold, coffee, fish and fish products, sugar, tea and maize were some of the most exported commodities in the period. Although Uganda is not known to have large deposits of gold, it has for almost two years now been the country’s largest foreign exchange earner, fetching a total of $161.3m (Shs596b) up from $126.3m (Shs467b) in May. A total of 3,012 kilogrammes of gold, according to the data, were exported out of the country up from 2,470 kilogrammes in May. Most of Uganda’s gold is exported to...

DP World this week announced the completion of a 400-meter expansion of the Berbera port in Somaliland. The Dubai Port Company that is contracted to expand the port said once operational, it will increase the terminal’s capacity by 500,000 TEUs per year and further strengthen Berbera as a major regional trade hub servicing the Horn of Africa. In a tweet, DP World stated: “We have just completed a 400m quay and a new extension at Berbera Port, Somaliland. Once operational, it will increase the terminal’s capacity by 500,000 TEUs per year and will further strengthen Berbera as a major regional trade hub servicing the Horn of Africa.” The news has elicited excitement within the Somaliland government with the vice president Abdirahman Abdilahi saying: “As Deputy President of Somaliland and on behalf of the people, words can’t express my great excitement about the nearing completion of the Berbera port expansion. my gratitude goes to the Sheikhs of the UAE and the DP World.” DP world, the Dubai based world’s largest port operator is the key player in the rebuilding of Berbera, they have invested $442 million for the expansion of the port and are also the economic free zone. It has projected to complete work by February next year. In 2017 when the original agreement was signed, the CEO of DP World Mr. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem drew a parallel between the growth of Dubai and the development path Somaliland is on and added “Our vision is to make Berbera a trading and transportation hub for the Horn of Africa.”...

The government of the Republic of Uganda led by Amelia Kyambadde, the Minister of Trade Industry and Cooperatives, has broken grounds for the construction of Busia Border Export Zone in Busia, a town located in the Eastern Region of Uganda at the border with the neighboring Republic of Kenya. The construction works of the project, whose procurement process has already been finalized, will be undertaken by local firms that include BAM Construction & Surveyors Ltd, and Global Trust Consults Ltd within a period of not more than five months from the date of commencement. The project is partly funded by the European Union, which through COMESA, has already provided a grant of over US$ 2M to the trade ministry to commence the works. The Busia Border Export Zone is one of five more export zones planned to be constructed at Malaba, Katuna, Oraba, Lwakhakha, and Elegu at a total cost of over US$ 108M. They will consist of warehouses, commercial buildings, and a central market as well as other export/import related facilities. Importance of the Border Export Zones The proposed export zones are expected to promote regional trade through increased and faster cross border flows of export goods and services, as well as increased export earnings as a result of improved trade infrastructure and capacity building to the cross-border traders. They are also expected to provide employment opportunities in the course of construction and upon completion, and they are also expected to promote investment through Public-Private Partnerships. According to the Minister of Trade Industry and Cooperatives, some...

Summary In 2019, transit cargo from Dar es Salaam to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi was at 37 percent, up from 22 percent in 2018. On average it costs $1.80 per kilometre per container to transport goods from the port of Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura compared with $3.10 per kilometre per container from the port of Mombasa. The turnaround of the Central Corridor has been attributed to the revival of the Central line metre gauge railway. This may have prompted Kenya Railways — after two decades of neglect — to rehabilitate the old meter-gauge railway from Nakuru to Kisumu at a cost of Ksh3.8 billion ($35 million). The Dar es Salaam port could attract lucrative business away from the Mombasa as the Central Corridor proves to be cheaper compared with the Northern Corridor transport route. On average it costs $1.80 per kilometre per container to transport goods from the port of Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura compared with $3.10 per kilometre per container from the port of Mombasa. The recently released the Central Corridor Transport Observatory 2019 report, which measures the performance of the Central Corridor, also shows that the average costs per km per container from Dar es Salaam to Kigali is $1.90 compared with $2.10 from the port of Mombasa. Importers from Uganda, also pay less at $1.80 per km per container to transport goods from the port of Dar es Salaam compared with $1.90 per km per container charged from Mombasa, while those from Goma pay $2.60...

Port, railway and pipeline operations will now be managed by under a single entity in a move aimed at turning Kenya into a commercial regional logistics hub. The development was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in an Executive Order on Friday establishing the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) to oversee the flow of cargo from Mombasa port to the hinterlands and East Africa export markets. In effect, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) will now fall under the State-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC), which will be headed by newly appointed John Ngumi for a three-year term that ends on May 2022. “Going forward, the State agencies have 30 days to enter into a joint operations agreement where each entity will re-organise their structures, resources, operations and services towards establishment of a seamless and coordinated national transport and logistics network,” said President Kenyatta. The agencies have also been transferred to the National Treasury, which is expected to provide personnel to boost oversight in investment portfolio management while ensuring each is professionally run thereby enabling them meet their individual targets. The setting up of KTLN comes amid rising concerns over conflicting directives that cause operational delays as agencies operate independently. This has seen importers, manufacturers, among other port users protest over numerous levies paid to the separate entities where delays in evacuation of cargo cost them a tidy sum due to storage and demurrage costs. President Kenyatta said the new structure creates...