KNCCI urges Chinese government to remove tariff barriers
Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), has urged the Chinese government to reduce or remove tariff barriers that hinder access to the Chinese market.
Speaking during a business conference of promoting the 126th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) in Kenya, KNCCI President Richard Ngatia said that with the removal of those barriers more Kenyans will be able to export their products to China.
Currently, Kenya’s trade with China accounts for 17.2 percent of its total trade. This places China as one of Kenya’s major trading partners.
However, Kenya’s exports to China total to USD 167 million against imports of USD 3.78 billion. This has made the trade flow imbalanced and in order to bring the trade deficit down, Kenya would like to negotiate for better trade terms for tea, coffee, and avocado.
Apart from that he also urged the Chinese Government to support market information/intelligence on Chinese market access, have a bilateral partnership in promoting implementation and enforcement of the food, plant and animal safety agreement between the two countries to promote export of fruit, vegetables, flowers and meat into China and establish joint ventures with the Kenyan and Chinese private sector so as to promote the exchange of skills, expertise, and technology between the countries.
“We need to actively promote Kenya’s products in China through the “Made in Kenya Initiative because there is business potential there. Apart from that both the government also need to invest in the market intelligence to promote sharing of information of trade opportunities between the two countries, “he said in a speech which was read on his behave by KNCCI Vice-Chairman Nairobi Chapter, Geoffrey Kimani.
Additionally, he urged the Chinese to support Kenyans by investing in modern irrigation technology and modern food storage facilities to foster the production and reduce post-harvest losses respectively.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2017), farmers lost over 1.9 million tonnes of food worth Sh 150 billion due to poor post-harvest storage, including damage by rodents and poor handling. Innovative technologies are needed to come up with modern food storage facilities.
