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Kenya: Traders urged to diversify exports

Published date:
Friday, 05 October 2007

Local exporters have failed to take advantage of export opportunities created by the US-sponsored African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a senior US trade specialist has said.

The US Agency for International Development (USAid) programme specialist, Mr Steve Ndele, said the exporters had failed to diversify from traditional commodities to fully use the provisions of the Act.

"The US Government enacted Agoa in May 2000 providing for preferential market access for over 6,000 products from Sub-Saharan Africa countries to the US market," said Ndele when he launched Web sites for the SMEs sector.

To date, Kenya has not fully exploited the Agoa opportunity since its exports to the US continue to be dominated by textiles. Ndele said Agoa has opened up the US market for a wide range of products.

Additionally, USAid and the Export Promotion Centre (EPC) have embarked on a trade development programme to train exporters on ways to increase their exports. He said the programme was meant to broaden the country’s export base, consolidate and expand market share under Agoa.

"The programme focused on assisting exporters to access the market through implementation of specific promotion activities and building of business-to-business linkages between Kenyan exporters and importers," he said.

EPC chief executive Mr Matanda Wabuyele said though exports to the US consisted mainly of textiles and clothing, coffee, tea, arts and crafts, the value had increased to Sh21 billion last year from Sh4.2 billion in the year 2000. He lamented that most exporters had failed to keep up with the stiff competition posed by producers like China and India.

The textile sector has come under stiff competition from China following the expiry of the multi-fibre agreement in January 2005 that removed quotas on textile exports in the global market.

China has threatened to wipe out the gains on textile exports provided for under Agoa due to its ability to export to the US cheaply than most Sub-Saharan African countries.

According to Wabuyele, many nternational companies have successfully reduced their costs in marketing by embracing the more efficient, fast and convenient e-commerce.

"Kenyan exporters are no different and they should be at the forefront shifting from traditional methods to more novel ideas," he added.



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Click here to view a sector profile of Kenya’s bilateral trade with the United States, disaggregated by total exports and imports, AGOA exports and GSP exports.


Other regularly updated trade statistics on AGOA.info include: (click each link to view)

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  • AGOA Trade by Industry Sector

  • Apparel Trade under AGOA’s Wearing Apparel Provisions

  • Latest Apparel Quotas under AGOA

  • Bilateral Trade Data for all AGOA-eligible countries individually.

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