NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 – Kenya’s volume of trade in the international market dropped by Sh39 billion in April, impacted by the coronavirus, according to the statistics office.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in its Leading Economic Indicators report reveals that the country’s trading volume reduced from Sh202.25 billion in March 2020 to Sh162.97 billion in April 2020.
Value of total exports also decreased from Sh64.48 billion in March to Sh43.21 billion in April, while the value of imports decreased from Sh137.77 billion to Sh119.75 billion.
During the period under review, food and beverages was the main export category, accounting for 59.30 percent of exports, while non-food industrial supplies accounted for 17.11 percent of the total exports.
The quantity of coffee exported decreased from 4,604.42 MT in March 2020 to 4,395.52 MT in April 2020 and its value rose from Sh2,410.16 billion to Sh2,590.20 billion over the same period.
At the same time, the quantity of tea exported increased from 51,440.71 MT in March 2020 to 57,949.33 MT in April 2020.
The value of exported tea rose from Sh11.6 billion to Sh13.2 billion over the same period.
Imports by Broad Economic Category indicate that non-food industrial supplies was the main import category in April 2020 with a share of 39.63 percent.
The report by KNBS comes at a time when countries around the world have moved to limit movement in and out of their regions in order to curb the spread of the deadly disease coronavirus that has claimed over 380,000 lives globally.
