Kenyan Exports Trade Decline Hits Ksh.39 Billion

Kenya’s trading value with eternal trading partners dropped by Ksh.39 billion in April due to the impact of the COVID-19 in the country.

Total trading in the period fell to Ksh.163 billion from Ksh.202.2 billion in March bringing the cumulative value of trade in four months to Ksh.768.7 billion from Ksh.779.3 billion over a similar period in 2019.

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) data shows that the Kenyan exports were the worst hit by the declining trade shedding off Ksh.21.3 billion in the month in comparison to imports which declined by a lesser sum of Ksh. 18billion.

Collective exports in the year to April were, however, on the rise peaking at Ksh. 221.9billion from Ksh. 205.7billion in the first four months of 2019.

Total imports in the year to date were meanwhile down at Ksh.546.8 billion from Ksh.573.6 billion last year.

Exports to Uganda, for example, dropped to Ksh. 2.3billion in April from Ksh. 5.3billion in March while exports to the United Kingdom grew marginally to Ksh. 4.4billion from Ksh. 4.3billion in March.

The declining trade was visible in the monthly cargo volumes passing through the port of Mombasa with data from the Kenya Ports of Authority (KPA) showing an overall decline of volumes by 4,342 metric tons (MT).

Imports through the port were, however, rose by 103,468 MT as exports lost ground by 97,891 MT.

The decreasing trade reflects the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which has seen widespread disruptions to the global value chains which are a result of virus control measures.