Africa remains Kenya’s major export destination as latest figures from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) for the January to March period also on the contrary states that Kenya imports less from the continent.
Earnings from the African region rose from Sh82.2 billion in first quarter of 2022 to Sh100.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023, largely driven by increase in exports to Uganda (50.4 per cent), Democratic Republic of Congo (42.2 per cent), Rwanda (23.3 per cent), Somalia (44.5 per cent) and Ethiopia (40.2 per cent).
“Notably, Uganda singly accounted for 31.2 per cent of the total export earnings from the African continent in the quarter under review, partly boosted by increase in domestic exports of cement clinkers, salt, medicaments and lubricants.”
In Overall, during the first quarter of 2023, the data indicates a positive growth of 2.7 per cent in trade volume from Sh800.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh822.4 billion.
The growth was primarily driven by an increase of 11.9 per cent to Sh232.6 billion in total exports during the review period, compared to a similar period of the previous year. Key contributors to this improvement were increased domestic exports of tea, titanium ores and concentrates, edible products and preparations, as well as iron and steel.
On the other hand, import expenditure declined by 0.5 per cent to Sh589.8 billion over the same period. This decrease in the value of import resulted to narrowing in the trade deficit, which reduced from Sh384.9 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh357.2 billion in the quarter under review.
Value of Domestic Exports Earnings from domestic exports in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to Sh 213.8 billion representing an increase of 17.0 per cent from the same quarter of 2022.
The rise was largely supported by increase in domestic exports of tea, articles of apparel and clothing accessories, horticultural products and, titanium ores and concentrates.
Revenue from domestic exports of tea went up from Sh39.5 billion in first quarter of 2022 to Sh43.3 billion in 2023. This growth was a result of increase in exported quantities buoyed by better tea prices in the international markets which increased from Sh290.4 per kilogramme in the first quarter of 2022 to KSh 299.7 per kilogramme in the quarter under review.
Income from domestic exports of horticultural products rose from Sh43.5 billion in first quarter of 2022 to Sh45.2 billion in the period under review. Similarly, the value of domestic exports of titanium ores and concentrates increased from Sh6.6 billion to Sh8.6 billion over the same period.
Other commodities that exhibited remarkable growth were iron and steel (41.4 per cent), medicinal and pharmaceutical products (78.7 per cent), essential oils (31.2 per cent) and, edible products and preparations which more than doubled. Conversely, earnings from domestic exports of unroasted coffee dropped from Sh9.6 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh7.6 billion in the quarter under review.
Expenditure on imported petroleum products rose from Sh111.9 billion in first quarter of 2022 to Sh130.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023, accounting for 22.1 per cent of the total import bill.
Similarly, expenditure on imported chemical fertilizers went up from Sh8.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh32.1 billion in the quarter under review, largely attributable to the government’s fertilizer subsidy programme.
In addition, the value of imported unmilled wheat and rice increased by 70.5 per cent and 96.5 per cent in the review period from Sh15.8 billion and Sh6.5 billion, respectively, in the first quarter of 2022.
Earning from exports to Asia increased from Sh53.0 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh58.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023, translating to a 9.8 percentage growth. Specifically, there was a remarkable improvement in exports to Iran from Sh498.8 million in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh4.0 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2023, largely driven by increased domestic exports of tea.
On the other hand, the value of exports to Pakistan shrunk from Sh16.9 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to Sh14.0 billion in the review period, partly occasioned by decline in domestic exports of tea.
Similarly, revenue from exports to America declined by 2.2 per cent to Sh 16.1 billion in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, expenditure on imports amounted Sh589.8 billion compared to Sh592.7 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
Import bill to the European Union rose to Sh 48.1 billion in first quarter of 2023 reflecting an increase of 11.9 per cent from the corresponding quarter of 2022. The growth was partly due to increase in imports from France (72.3 per cent), Germany (27.5 per cent) and the Netherlands (48.7 per cent). Albeit the rise in imports from this economic bloc, Belgium registered a decline of 43.5 per cent, mainly occasioned by decreased importation of motor spirit (gasoline) premium.
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