Mitumba imports hit Sh5b in three months after Treasury reduced tariff by half

Mitumba traders awaiting for supplies from the wholesalers at their stalls in Nakuru's Gikomba market on September 18, 2017. Photo: Benadeta Mwaura/Standard

Imports of secondhand clothes, popularly known as mitumba, almost doubled between July and September 2018 after Treasury reduced the duty on the products.

In what could be a blow to the revival of textile manufacturing, one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda, Kenya imported 52,648 tonnes of second-hand clothes valued at Sh5 billion.