Kenyan Imports from China falls by 36.6% First Two Months of 2020 Owing to Coronavirus

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected Kenyan imports from China. The imports have significantly fallen by 36.6% according to a report by the Kenya Private Sector Association (KEPSA).

The report has cited an increase in the uncertainty of businesses has been on the rise and disruption of logistical arrangement to and from China has attributed to this as the virus is prevented from further spread.

According to the 2019 Economic Survey, Kenya and china bilateral trade were approximated at Sh382 billion in 2018, imports valued at approximately Sh371 billion and the exports at Sh11 billion.

Kenya sources 21% of its imports from China, with electrical machinery, spare parts, railway, and railway locomotives, iron and steel, and vehicles taking lead while Kenya exports to China include avocadoes, tea, and coffee.

The report projected that the hoteliers and the entire tourism and travel sector will feel the pinch of the COVID 19 more since the travel advisory will see up to 6 million annual tourists that visit the region not making it for this season.

Transport and logistics who rely on spare parts from and raw material from china will also be hugely affected.

The wholesale and retail sector also is expected to experience a shortage of essential consumer products.

“About 82 percent of business operators source their inputs or exports to China, thus they face the direct risk of supply chain disruption…Of the 18 percent, neither source inputs from nor export to China, about 67 percent still face the risk of supply chain disruption since they nonetheless purchase their raw materials from suppliers who source from China.” The report read.

The Association which has been monitoring the business environment since the outbreak of the virus through its CEO Carole Karuga has encouraged the Kenyans to seize the opportunity to consume more of Kenyan products.

“This has given us a very good opportunity to increase our local production, it means that we don’t have to lack just because the major countries that we were sourcing these products are not there. We can produce more locally become self-sufficient while also creating more jobs,” Karuga said.

Karuga in giving hopes to the business community added that 82% of Kenyan business have reported losses of less than Sh5 million while 61% reported losses of less than Sh2 million in the last two months of the year and an overall 84% of the businesses experienced very low to the moderate impact of the virus on their operations.

The survey was conducted among 127 businesses drawn from 17 sectors of the economy and it had 53% of its respondents from large companies with at least 100 employees.