Addis ababa – Ethiopia is looking to promote its horticulture products in China and different other markets to increase export volumes and revenue, the Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association (EHPEA) has said. The association said various endeavours are already going on to help achieve this goal. Tewodros Zewdie, the EHPEA executive director, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the country’s export performance of the flower sector in the last few years has shown remarkable progress, but the fruits and vegetables sector is not growing that much compared to its potential. Tewodros added that the association is working with the public and private stakeholders to address the challenges related to logistics issues, among others. “We are aggressively promoting our products in Europe, and the feedback from the buyers is quite good. Some promotion activities are also going on in China. We can also benefit from the market opportunity in the Middle East,” he said. Ethiopia earned about $300 million from export of fruits and vegetables in the last year fiscal year. Source: New Times

The second edition of the annual Africa 2017, a high-level forum offering participants an unparalleled platform for promoting trade and investment within Africa, will take place on December 7-9, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the organisers announced yesterday. This year’s event will kick-off with a Young Entrepreneurs Day (YED), which will bring together emerging and established entrepreneurs, business mentors, start-up hubs, angel investors and venture capital firms to share ideas, network and help drive further the “business ideas of tomorrow”. According to the organisers, the Africa 2017 YED has partnered with top incubators, entrepreneurship programmes and venture capital firms. Organised by Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation of Egypt and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Regional Investment Agency, the three-day conference will discuss key issues like ploicy reforms to improve business and investment climate, among others. It will attract business leaders and policy-makers from across Africa and worldwide, including Heads of State, the statement said. The forum will be held under the patronage of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Dr Sahar Nasr, Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, reiterated the African opportunity based on business-minded reforms taking place across the continent. “The forum seeks to stimulate investments into the continent, and especially cross-border investments. In Egypt, we have undertaken an ambitious economic reform programme, with improving the business environment and overall country competitiveness as the key ingredient,” Nasr said. This forum reinforces Egypt’s commitment to support and enhance the economic and cultural integration of Africa...

Nakuru is set to benefit from Sh1.8 billion worth of low-volume sealed roads when the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) moves to ease traffic congestion in the town. The three-year project seeks to pave 22 kilometres of roads diverting  from the major highway, a development expected to reduce the number of vehicles that pass through the town’s centre. KURA Planning and Environment General Manager Daniel Muchiri, who toured project sites on Monday, said the roads will link several residential, industrial and trading centres. “Traffic congestion in Nakuru is caused by the fact that all vehicles must access the town even though they don’t need to,” said Mr Muchiri. The roads serve Menengai and Milimani estates and seek to improve the access to Nakuru GK Prison, London estate and part of the western side of the town. They also link Industrial Area, Kaptembwa, Bondeni, Naka, Free Area and Mwariki estates of the eastern part of the town. The project being carried out by Chinese firm Weihai International Economic and Technical Cooperative is set to run for 30 months. “We have not set a specific figure on the amount to be spent on the projects in Nakuru but it will be distributed across three financial years,” he said. Mr Muchiri said that Sh181.5 million had already been paid to the contractor to start the project. “The project also entails construction of walkways, culverts, bridges and soil erosion protectors,” he said. KURA’s South Rift Regional Manager Sylvia Mwangi said the contractor was still...

Tea prices at the Mombasa auction declined for the fourth straight session to touch a three-month low in the latest sale despite fall in volumes. A market report by East African Tea Traders Association (EATTA) shows on average a kilogramme fetched Sh283 this week down from Sh292 in the previous week’s sale. The price of the commodity has been dipping since the beginning of last month. The volume of tea at the auction this week dropped to 6.6 million kilogrammes from 7.1 million the previous sale. “Out of 116,248 packages (7,530,000 kilos) available for sale, 102,903 packages (6,673,854 kilos) were sold with 11.48 per cent packages going unsold,” said the EATTA in the report. The price of the commodity had hit a high of Sh300 in June, marking the second time it crossed the mark since the beginning of the year. Tea production for 2017 is, however, still expected to drop by double digits due to the effects of drought that affected production in most growing regions. The Agriculture and Food Authority said production of green leaf will drop from 473 million kilogrammes in 2016 to about 420 million kilogrammes this year. The beverage earned Kenya $1.226 billion (Sh127.3 billion) last year, which was a drop of 1.7 per cent from the $1.247 billion (Sh129.4 billion) the commodity recorded in 2015. Kenya is the leading producer of black tea. Source: Business Daily

Regional private equity fund Aureos East Africa Fund LLC has started the process of exiting its investments in East Africa. The fund which was established by Aureos Capital in 2003, had made several investments in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Its key sectors included banking, manufacturing, tourism, advertising, wholesale and retail. Recently, the fund which is managed by the Abraaj Group announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell its entire 5.53 per cent (6.83 million shares) stake in the clothing retailer Deacons East Africa Plc. The value of the transactions is yet to be made public but conservative estimates based on the current  market value of the company’s stock on the Nairobi Securities Exchange puts the price  at around  Ksh24 million ($240,000). The share sell-purchase transaction which is still subject to regulatory approval will be executed off the NSE as a private transaction. The fund has also invested in the cement firm Athi River Mining, Bank of Africa, Athi River Steel Plant, Cable Holdings Ltd, Dorini (Tourism) and advertising firm Ovidian. In Uganda and Tanzania, the fund has invested in the Bank of Africa (Uganda) and Bank of Africa (Tanzania). The $40 million fund is incorporated in Mauritius and seeks to make equity and quasi-equity investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with strong potential for profitable growth and regional expansion. Aureos seeks to invest in East Africa with a focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with investments of between $0.5 million and $4 million per transaction. It holds its investments for...

Five years ago, a season like this, John Losunyen was queuing for relief food somewhere in Isiolo county , in the central part of northeastern Kenya. Luckily, today, that is not the case as he is currently tending to his tomatoes on a two and a half acre farm where he also rears poultry and keeps cows. With training and the use of mobile phone technology to access markets and get farming information, Mr Losunyen has been able to fend for his family. The use of mobile phone applications in agriculture is changing lives by providing crucial and handy information which farmers are using to boost the productivity of many farmers across the region. Data shows that demand for food is set to grow as the global population increases, more people live better lives as their economic situations and standards of living improve, couple with increased urbanisation. There is a need to innovate to feed this population and one of the market leaders in innovation in agriculture is a United States global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, which come with advancements that are immensely changing the lives of farmers in East Africa. iProcure From technological innovations, like iProcure Ltd, smallholder farmers are able to get quality inputs for better productivity. Through the last mile distribution of farming inputs, iProcure is a digital platform through which farmers can order for inputs and have them delivered through co-operatives to ensure that they get genuine and affordable inputs. iprocure’s ojective...

Kenya is counting on the establishment of a national commodity exchange to protect cross-border traders from exploitation by middlemen. The proposals, contained in the new Trade Policy, also aim at promoting efficiency in domestic and regional trade, supporting pricing transparency for farmers and traders, as well as attracting more investors and creating jobs. Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said preparations were in top gear to put up a commodities exchange by June next year as the country moves to implement agreements made under the northern corridor infrastructure projects. “A commodity exchange will address supply chain weaknesses where, for example, maize farmers get very little compared to maize flour prices; they are not comparable because of too many parties in between. We want to create a platform that allows the interaction between the supplier and the trader or the consumer directly,” Mr Kiptoo said. The exchange will involve the use of regional warehouses with modern facilities where farmers and traders can take their products to minimise on storage wastage as well as exploitation by middlemen. The structure is meant to operate in the larger East African region with Rwanda already running a commodity exchange. Kenya and Uganda are laying legal and infrastructural structures. Mr Kiptoo said the three countries had agreed on 18 commodities, setting the stage for the start of the venture which holds key to regional trade. The exchange will also ensure prompt payments in partnership with financial institutions. “If you take your goods to Kisumu, it will check...

Kenya’s effort to seal loopholes for dumping and tax leakage have run into legal headwinds after local firms moved to court to block the joint deal with Uganda and Rwanda. The firms which offer cargo tracking services in Kenya have sued seeking to block the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from implementing its e-tracking system in partnership with the two landlocked neighbours. The nine firms through the Electronic Cargo Tracking System Providers Association of Kenya claim that the KRA has stabbed them in the back by introducing the Regional Electronic Tracking System (Rects) which is already on a pilot phase in Kenya. The platform, launched by the KRA in March, allows the real-time tracking of cargo from Mombasa to its final destination. The new system will allow Uganda and Rwanda’s tax collection organs to also monitor the cargo. The KRA in March announced that the new cargo tracking system would be offered to transporters for free, a move that has sparked the vicious war with firms currently providing the monitoring services at a fee. The taxman in its response says that the system’s introduction was necessary to reduce dumping and diversion of goods in transit, give the taxman more control over data of cargo being transported and to reduce paperwork while maximising use of technology. But the lobby group says the KRA in February assured its members that the new regional system would only be used occasionally for arming sensitive cargo, and even invited it to the launch of the platform....

Kenya Railways has finally terminated Rift Valley Railways’ (RVR) 25-year contract to run the Kenya-Uganda railway after the State corporation failed to resolve long-standing business disputes with the concessionaire. Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina and his RVR counterpart, Isaiah Okoth, Monday agreed that RVR will hand back operations, employees and assets of the 100-year-old railway to the agency within 30 days. The deal was sealed at the High Court, where RVR had in January rushed to contest Kenya Railways’ impending termination of the contract. Kenya Railways had cited failure to pay Sh600 million concession fees and missed cargo haulage targets as reason for the planned termination. “It is hereby ordered by consent: That the concession agreement dated January 23, 2006 be and is hereby terminated today July 31,2017,” the High Court said in its ruling Monday. The two parties will now form a joint takeover committee to oversee smooth transfer of assets and operations to Kenya Railways. “In doing so, KR/RVR will also endeavour to ensure there is minimal adverse economic and social impact associated with the transition,” a statement jointly signed by Mr Maina and Mr Okoth says, adding that operations will not be affected by the change of guard. The termination signals that RVR failed to meet conditions by Kenya Railways, which had in April said it would reverse its notice if the firm sells a stake to cash-rich investors. RVR was given a 90-day window to look for the investor. RVR is 80 per cent owned...

Kenya’s insatiable appetite for loans to fund mega projects poses a risk to the economy and narrows the window for future borrowing in the event of emergencies, a State-funded think-tank has warned. The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) also warns that Nairobi’s volume of public debt as a ratio of GDP has already surpassed the 50 per cent limit set by East Africa Community member States. As at March 2017, Kenya’s gross public debt stood at Sh4.04 trillion – equivalent to 52.6 per cent of GDP – according to latest data from the Treasury. “The high level of public debt in Kenya narrows the window for future borrowing, and increases vulnerability to fiscal risk in the event of any urgent need for borrowing,” says the institute in its latest economic update titled Kenya Economic Report 2017. “Kenya’s public debt was above the EAC convergence criteria threshold of 50 per cent of GDP,” says the report released on Tuesday last week. A majority of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s flagship infrastructure projects are funded through debt mainly from China. The borrowing frenzy has been fuelled by the debut Eurobond as well as China, which has recently upped the ante in doling out loans to Kenya, overtaking Japan as Nairobi’s biggest bilateral lender. Sovereign bond Kenya in June 2014 floated a $2 billion sovereign bond on the Irish bourse and later in December that year went back to the market for an additional $750 million in what is technically known...