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- May 11, 2013
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The United States has strengthened its position as Kenya’s third-largest export destination — making it Nairobi’s most valuable economic partner outside East Africa.
Kenya’s exports to the US grew seven per cent to Sh35.3 billion in the first 10 months of 2016 as exports to Britain tumbled by a similar margin to Sh30.9 billion, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data.
The growth saw American consumers open a Sh4.4 billion gap over their counterparts in the UK, wider than the Sh2 billion in 2014 when the US first outpaced Britain to become the third largest importer of Kenyan goods after Uganda and the Netherlands.
The KNBS data also shows that the US overtook Britain for the first time as the top source of foreign tourists who visited Kenya in the year to October 2016, cementing its position as a crucial source of dollar inflows in addition to diaspora remittances.
International trade experts said local traders are increasingly opening more supply channels to the US, helped by increased interactions with American investors.
“Besides the renewal of Agoa [the African Growth and Opportunity Act], Kenya’s increased visibility on the global map is as a result of conferences like the Global Entrepreneurship summit that attracted US President Barack Obama,” said Joseph Kosure, a consultant in international trade.
Kenya is a beneficiary of the preferential trade pact, Agoa, which allows sub-Saharan African countries to export goods to America tax-free.
Textiles and apparel account for about 80 per cent of Kenya’s total exports to the US under the pact.
The KNBS data shows that women’s trousers and shorts (valued at Sh6.8 billion) topped the list of items that Americans ordered from Kenya in the first 10 months of last year, followed by men’s trousers (Sh6.1 billion) and coffee (Sh2.9 billion).
Other items that the world’s largest economy took in from Nairobi are tea (Sh1.8 billion) and titanium (Sh1.6 billion). Titanium is used as an alloy with other metals to produce lightweight metals for jet engines.
Last September, Kenyan authorities said they were looking to expand the list of products that the country exports to the US under Agoa as competition intensifies in the garment and apparel market.
Relations between Nairobi and London came into focus four years ago following threats by the UK to cut ties with Kenya should Uhuru Kenyatta, then an ICC indictee, be elected president in the 2013 polls.
The charges against Mr Kenyatta have since been dropped, and the UK has been working to reset the frosty relations with Kenya.
Meanwhile the US-Kenya trade basket has continued to expand.
Ongoing growth now puts America on the path to overtaking the Netherlands for the first time as the second-largest buyer of Kenyan goods.
US widens its lead over UK as top importer of Kenyan goods
Kenya’s exports to the US grew seven per cent to Sh35.3 billion in the first 10 months of 2016 as exports to Britain tumbled by a similar margin to Sh30.9 billion, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data.
The growth saw American consumers open a Sh4.4 billion gap over their counterparts in the UK, wider than the Sh2 billion in 2014 when the US first outpaced Britain to become the third largest importer of Kenyan goods after Uganda and the Netherlands.
The KNBS data also shows that the US overtook Britain for the first time as the top source of foreign tourists who visited Kenya in the year to October 2016, cementing its position as a crucial source of dollar inflows in addition to diaspora remittances.
International trade experts said local traders are increasingly opening more supply channels to the US, helped by increased interactions with American investors.
“Besides the renewal of Agoa [the African Growth and Opportunity Act], Kenya’s increased visibility on the global map is as a result of conferences like the Global Entrepreneurship summit that attracted US President Barack Obama,” said Joseph Kosure, a consultant in international trade.
Kenya is a beneficiary of the preferential trade pact, Agoa, which allows sub-Saharan African countries to export goods to America tax-free.
Textiles and apparel account for about 80 per cent of Kenya’s total exports to the US under the pact.
The KNBS data shows that women’s trousers and shorts (valued at Sh6.8 billion) topped the list of items that Americans ordered from Kenya in the first 10 months of last year, followed by men’s trousers (Sh6.1 billion) and coffee (Sh2.9 billion).
Other items that the world’s largest economy took in from Nairobi are tea (Sh1.8 billion) and titanium (Sh1.6 billion). Titanium is used as an alloy with other metals to produce lightweight metals for jet engines.
Last September, Kenyan authorities said they were looking to expand the list of products that the country exports to the US under Agoa as competition intensifies in the garment and apparel market.
Relations between Nairobi and London came into focus four years ago following threats by the UK to cut ties with Kenya should Uhuru Kenyatta, then an ICC indictee, be elected president in the 2013 polls.
The charges against Mr Kenyatta have since been dropped, and the UK has been working to reset the frosty relations with Kenya.
Meanwhile the US-Kenya trade basket has continued to expand.
Ongoing growth now puts America on the path to overtaking the Netherlands for the first time as the second-largest buyer of Kenyan goods.
US widens its lead over UK as top importer of Kenyan goods