Kenyan sisal spinners edged out of the race for fibre by Asian and Middle East dealers

A home-made spooling machine which is used to twine sisal fibre. Photo/FILE  Nation Media Group

By GERALD ANDAE

In Summary

• Most sisal spinners now operate below capacity following an acute shortage of fibre as producers ship out their consignments to the global market — lured by higher prices.
• The main export destinations for Kenyan sisal are China, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Japan and Belgium.
• The country is ranked third in the production of the commodity globally, after Brazil and Tanzania. Analysts say Kenyan farmers are missing out on an opportunity to tap into global demand for sisal fibre.

Asia and the Middle-East may be thousands of kilometres away but the heat stemming from rapid industrial expansion of some of their economies such as China and Saudi Arabia is fast causing discomfort among sisal spinning firms in Kenya.

Most sisal spinners now operate below capacity following an acute shortage of fibre as producers ship out their consignments to the global market — lured by higher prices.

Statistics show that export prices of sisal fibre have been on a steady climb since 2000, driven by demand from industrial consumers.

The export price of a tonne of sisal fibre has more than tripled to Sh108,817 as at July 2013 from Sh35,196 in 2000. Locally, producers are paid an average Sh50 per kilo of fibre delivered or Sh50,000 per tonne — which is less than half of the price that the international market offers.

This has triggered a mad rush for exports with the Kenya Sisal Board (KSB) indicating that more than 80 per cent of the crop produced is now exported, with local spinners having to cope with the remaining 20 per cent.

“It is a fact that local industries in the country do not get enough stocks to meet their demand as most of the sisal produced is exported,” says KSB managing director Naomi Kamau.

In 2012, Kenya produced 27,866 tonnes of sisal fibre out of which 24,052 tonnes were exported — an equivalent of 86.3 per cent. The country earned Sh2.55 billion from the exports in 2012 while domestic sales fetched Sh365 million. Local spinners were left to scramble for the 4,198 tonnes, which was less than half of the national demand. Kenya has an annual sisal fibre consumption demand of slightly more than 10,000 tonnes.

Ms Kamau says that spinners mainly rely on small-scale farmers who hardly grow enough sisal to meet the local market’s requirement.

“You will realise that most small scale holders grow sisal along rivers and roads, or in their homesteads; this can hardly satisfy the quantities that local processing factories require,” she says.

As a result, some spinning factories are forced to import sisal from neighbouring Tanzania to meet their demand. “It is an interesting scenario that some of the factories import fibre to meet their customers’ orders,” Ms Kamau says.

An official at Premier Bags and Cordages, a local company that manufactures sisal items, confirmed that local supply hardly meets their demand.

“We require 100 metric tonnes of sisal every month but we receive about 70 metric tonnes as most of the sisal produced in the country is exported,” says Mr Susand Sahoo, the company’s financial controller.

The main export destinations for Kenyan sisal are China, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Japan and Belgium. China and Saudi Arabia blaze the trail as the main importers of Kenyan sisal — driven by the need for raw material to drive growing industrial production.

Other than the traditional cordage and bag markets, demand for sisal has spread to new areas in the recent past.

The fibre is now used to produce high quality carpets and buffing cloth for various industrial polishing applications.