Kenya keen to increase number of exports
Bilateral Trade by Sector: United States - Kenya
Value ('1000 dollars) / Year-to-date is January-September
Even though Kenya is the leading exporter to the United States under the African Growth Opportunity Act, AGOA, accounting for 59 percent of exports, most SMEs are not fully utilizing the preferential trade deal due to limited access to information.
Industrialization Principal Secretary Dr. Wilson Songa says capacity building will see Kenya boost the number of products currently being exported to the US as the ministry works to establish the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority as an independent body to aid SMEs.
Data from the US government indicates that in the year 2013, out of 57 billion dollars worth of goods exported to America under AGOA, Kenya was the top exporter having exported 59% of the goods.
Mauritius came second at 33%, Ethiopia had 6% and Tanzania had 2% of the products.
Following the 10 year extension of the preferential trade agreement, the ministry of industrialization has embarked on a roadmap to push the value of exports from Kenya to the US and regional economies to 100 billion shillings in the next two years through investments in the value chain for key products.
Nonetheless, findings have shown that the Micro and Small Medium Enterprises do not have sufficient information on what can be exported, thus the low number of exported goods which are less than 100, as opposed to the maximum 6,300
Dr. Songa says besides capacity building, in the next one year, the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority currently under the ministry is set to become autonomous body, to facilitate SMEs in utilizing the trade deal as well as a fund from which they can access capital to expand their businesses
Textiles and apparel still remain Kenya’s leading exports at 45 billion shillings, leather 100 million shillings while food produce 8.9 billion shillings that have helped create 40,000 jobs in the process.
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