Figure 1 East Africa Regional Grain Trade Flow for the Week Ending 7 April 2018
The Week’s Market Analysis
- Tanzania exported a lot of rice to Rwanda despite Uganda having much lower rice prices. The market prices for imported rice in Rwanda were much higher than those of the local rice, which explains the significantly high rice imports for Tanzania to Rwanda. However close to 50% of the rice imports were exported from Rwanda to DRC.
- In Kenya, the prices of Pakistan and Indian imported rice have drastically fallen over the past one year, the reason being, there is an increasing number of Somali traders who appear to have strategically monopolized the importation of rice, by flooding the market with imported rice which slowly edged out many non-Somali rice importers, due to inability to compete with extremely low profit margin. The net effect is Eastleigh has quickly become Nairobi major hub for imported rice replacing down town Nairobi as more wholesalers and distributors open shop in residential areas. Kindly note this statement is in no way intended to put down any community or race but simply provide insight on how migration and other social economic dynamics are greatly affecting the Kenyan urban food market.
- Exports from Tanzania to Kenya continue to increase as the two countries address Tanzania’s trade barriers.
Table 1- Market Prices for Select Markets in the East Africa Region for the Week Ending 7 April 2018
The Week’s Market Opportunities
- Kenya especially Kitui, Eldoret, and Nairobi presents profitable market opportunities for Rwandan farmers and traders.
- 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.
©Betta Grains 2018
