Common International Trade Challenges in Kenya

Kenya enjoys a market-oriented economy and is highly regarded as a commercial, economic, and logistics center in East Africa. 

Having a robust industrial base in East Africa has been instrumental in helping Kenya woo private investors. 

Today, more international companies are investing in the country and establishing both regional and local operations. This helps leverage Kenya’s extensive air routes, key location, and position as a regional economic hub. 

Even with these developments in international trade, there are various operational challenges in Kenya. 

These challenges affect traders whether they are Kenyans or citizens from other countries transporting goods on transit within the EAC (East African Community) 

Let’s discuss some of these challenges.

Non-tariff barriers in the East African Community

According to survey findings derived from private agencies and firms, non-tariff barriers (NTBs) are a combination of the operational obstacles and restrictive import measures. These include:

• Clearance delays at the Mombasa port as a result of a lengthy clearance procedure
• Poor export/ import documentation procedures
• Lack of acknowledgment of certificates of origin
• Classification and verification of goods
• Need for transit bonds and fees
• Variable systems for the supply of certification marks, testing, and evaluation by multiple Bureaus of Standards within the region 
• Constraints of import allocation
• Bans and limitations on exports and imports to and from specific countries within the East African Community, whereas trade, should be free within the region
• Discriminative evaluation requirements on particular products from particular countries 
• Administrative duty
• Clumsy testing practices on some imports
• Corrupt activities

How do Non-tariff Barriers Affect Business

To understand the impact of non-tariff barriers on businesses in Kenya, you need to evaluate three groups which are:

• Prohibitive implementation of non-tariff measures
• Operational restrictions regarding export product clearance records
• Functional constraints related to rules of origin 

There is a fourth group where trucking and transit traffic challenges are differentiated. These challenges are not classified as non-tariff barriers seeing that they are not discriminatory. However, they still can influence trade negatively. 

The effect of these four classifications on businesses was grouped from the severest to those that have no impact. 

People interviewed in the survey mentioned above, however, couldn’t specify the effect non-tariff measures had on their businesses. 

Trucking and Transit Traffic

Challenges that traders face in this category include:

• Cutthroat port charges and taxes
• Disorganized operations
• Volatile weighbridges
• Inconsistent opening times at the border points
• Road toll expenses
• Police barricades
• Volatile documentation requirements
• Corrupt practices along with the roadblocks

How can Export Portal help with Eliminating some of these challenges?

Export Portal is the ideal go-to option. With Export Portal, there are zero brokerage fees to pay, and you can trust that your products will be secure. 

Export Portal has adopted advanced technology to facilitate the smooth running of operations. 

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