Exports to Tanzania record huge growth

Dar es salam city. International Trade PS Chris Kiptoo said the State had no control over Uchumi woes after Dar demands.[ File, Standard]

Negotiations between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam seem to have paid off with exports to Tanzania increasing between April and June 2018.

Latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicate that the value of exports to Dar increased by more than a third to Sh7.4 billion in the second quarter of the year compared to exports of Sh5.5 billion in the same period last year.

“Tanzania recorded the highest increase in the value of total exports over the period at 35.7 per cent to Sh7.4 billion. This was due to increased exports of medicaments, soap and printed books; and re-exports of tractors and trailers,” said KNBS in a report on Kenya’s Balance of Payments for the second quarter of 2018.

Trade relations between the two economies have been frosty, with exports to Tanzania dipping to a nine-year low last year, according to figures by the Central Bank of Kenya.

Exports to Dares Salaam declined to Sh28.5 billion in 2017 from a high of Sh46 billion in 2012. However, as the trade spat escalated, representatives from the two countries held a series of meetings aimed at restoring commercial links.

In July, trade officials from Kenya and Tanzania announced that they had reached an agreement that would ensure smooth trade and diplomatic engagements, including getting rid of several non-tariff barriers.

“The meeting recalled and appreciated that previous bilateral meetings have to date resolved several non-tariff barriers and reiterated on the need to generate lasting solutions,” read a joint communiqué then.

“The two partner States recognised each other as significant trading partners and underscored the importance of ease of market access for each other’s products and services.”

However, exports to Uganda, once the country’s leading export destination, remained flat at Sh14.8 billion in the period under review, a slight increase from Sh14.4 billion in the second quarter of 2017.

“Total exports to EAC partner states rose from Sh26.6 billion in the second quarter of 2017 to Sh28.8 billion in the same quarter of 2018.”

The frosty trade relations between Kenya and Tanzania was complicated by demands of a Sh2.3 billion debt owed by Uchumi Supermarket. International Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said while the State has about 14 per cent stake in Uchumi, it had no control over the supermarket.