Maize: Zambia, Malawi and Uganda continues to look at exporting maize into Kenya. Unfortunately, the Government seems to be the only buyer, as most millers and traders are shying away from buying maize from individual suppliers, because of government price control. An interesting observation is the price of maize in most markets continues to remain much higher than the government set price. Trade in Busia seems to be slowing down as most traders and buyers are waiting for the Kenyan elections to be safely concluded. Ugandan traders are now requesting Kenyans to collect maize from Busia, because of Kenyan’s history of election violence.
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.
