Kenya Shines At Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair

Kenya emerged as Second Best Foreign Exhibitor at the just concluded 46^th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair which took place from June 28 to July 13, 2022, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Awards were conducted by Tanzania Trade Development Authority.

The 46th DITF’s theme was ‘Industrialization for Job Creation and Sustainable Trade’ and provided a great opportunity for Kenyan companies to showcase and benchmark their quality of products with other participating countries eyeing the same market. Kenya hope to regain her stronghold and reinstate her position as a leading trading partner with Tanzania by the year 2025.

While receiving the award, Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency CEO Dr. Wilfred Marube lauded Tanzania not only as a neighbour but also as a strategic partner in trade, tourism and investments saying Kenya will continue to deepen its bilateral relations with Tanzania.

“Kenya is keen on exploring business opportunities that will consolidate, expand, and penetrate the current market. The Trade Fair was a great networking opportunity with fellow delegates, sharing expertise with the aim of finding partners within the region. We are also leveraging on this event to provide a platform for our exporters to create market linkages and secure buyers for their products”

He added: “This event was a platform for Kenya to deepen its presence in the Tanzanian market, which has been identified as holding a lot of potential and capacity in absorbing more Kenyan products and services.”

The Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency spearheaded Kenya’s participation having prioritized 22 products under the revised strategy for export growth as focal in the export development campaign. Kenya leveraged on the trade fair to diversify export products into Tanzania by seeking to provide a wider variety of other value-added manufactured goods and services such as financial, ICT, education, hospitality, warehousing, transportation and Building & Construction to enhance trade relations between the two countries and reduce the trade gap.

The trade fair comes barely a year after the Kenya-Tanzania Business Forum took place in Nairobi led by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu. The two countries promised to solve strained business relations and mark the beginning of bilateral trade, tourism, investment and addressing the tariff barriers.

Tanzania is Kenya’s sixth largest export destination with exports worth Kshs. 40.4 billion which contributed to 33% of the country’s total revenues generated from exports to the EAC market in 2021. Tanzania’s exports to the country have doubled from Kshs 27.8 billion in 2020 to Kshs 54.4 billion in 2021.

Some of the key export products to Tanzania include flat rolled iron, cooking oils, soaps, fertilisers, insecticides, paperboards, medicaments, footwear and sugar confectionery accounting for 80% of the products exported into the Tanzanian market from Kenya.

Kenya on the other hand mainly imports cereals, wood, and edible vegetables from Tanzania and it exports pharmaceutical products, plastics, iron, and steel to the neighbouring State.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu ended persistent strained trade relations between the two largest economies in the six-nation EAC bloc which have, for years, hindered the smooth flow of goods and services. In May last year, President Kenyatta held a meeting with President Samia in Nairobi and agreed on a series of targets, including eliminating more than 14 identified non-tariff barriers in six months.

Some of the Kenyan companies that exhibited in the trade fair include:

1. Fret Naturals
2. Kevian Kenya Ltd
3. Glerian Ltd
4. K Engineering company ltd
5. Revital Healthcare EPZ Ltd
6. New Kenya Cooperatives Creamery
7. Kenya Dairy Board
8. Kenya Tea Packers Ltd (KETEPA)
9. Anzuki Recycle Designers
10. Kenya Bureau of standards
11. Bata Shoe Company
12. Kenya Maritime Authority
13. Greytrix Africa
14. Cofftea Agencies Ltd
15. X-ONE

The Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair attracted at least 400,000 exhibition and visitor profiles that included Importers, wholesalers, agents, traders, consumers, business executives, Government Officials, Diplomats, Political Leaders and members of the general public.

Kenya’s participation in the trade fair aided the participating firms to benchmark their priority products against competitors from the EAC economic bloc and its neighbours. Besides benchmarking, the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair gave Kenya the opportunity to explore potential markets in countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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