Figure 1 East Africa Regional Grain Trade Flow for the Week Ending 21 April 2018
The Week’s Market Analysis
- Uganda exported maize (4,921MT) to Kenya, as Kenyan farmers threaten to protest at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot over non-payment for maize delivered last year. Unconfirmed reports seem to indicate that a lot of the Ugandan maize is making its way into the NCPB depots thereby drastically reducing the price of maize in Nairobi.[1]
- In a very interesting turn of events, Tanzanians traders may have quietly opted for the more profitable fresh maize niche, seeing there was absolutely no fresh maize in Nairobi the previous week. Tanzania’s fresh maize currently selling at a whooping retail price of Ksh25/(US$0.25)/maize cob. Tanzanians know Nairobians prefer fresh soft maize, perhaps it’s time Kenyan farmers realised that millers are the only buyers of dry maize, and so should focus on the fresh maize for domestic consumers and Yes! maize street vendors do also sell lots of fresh maize.
- Rice prices were lowest in Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, and highest in Eldoret and Mombasa.
- Green grams prices were lowest in Mombasa, an indication of products that were intended for export but ended up in the local market. India has had a bumper harvest so there is very little export of green grams, pigeon peas, and cow peas.
- There were no recorded exports from Rwanda to DRC during the week.
[1] The Star. https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/04/22/maize-farmers-threaten-demos-over-sh25-billion-ruto-promised_c1747710, 22 April 2018
The Week’s Market Prices for Select Markets
Table 1- Market Prices for Select Markets in the East Africa Region for the Week Ending 21 April 2018, US$1=Ksh100.18
The Week’s Market Opportunities
- Betta Grains continues to receive various request to buy and sell commodities. Below is a table listing some of our clients request to find buyers and sellers. Kindly visit our eDuka page https://www.bettagrains.com/?page_id=1236 for a more up to date list.
Author; Fostina Mani, Betta Grains. Fostina.Mani@bettagrains.com, Twitter: @FostinaMani.
Acknowledgment: The data used for the analysis has been obtained from; IAM, Government of Kenya, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, Government of Tanzania, Ministry of Trade and Industry, EAGC, RATIN, Farm Gain Uganda, FEWS NET, & Betta Grains.
Disclaimer. Due to unavailable of data on various border points on formal cross-border trade flows and volumes in the public arena. The volumes indicated above are mostly from the informal cross-border data that is available to the public. The purpose of the analysis, is simply to provide an indication of the East Africa Regional Trade flow to SMEs, Smallholder Farmers, and Other Stakeholders in a manner and language that is applicable, simple, and makes sense. Those desiring to obtain actual trade volumes are advised to contact various internationally funded government projects that have been mandated to provide the regional trade data for public good.
