A majority of Chinese buyers initiate and close deals online as opposed to retail chains. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenya is set to cut down investment in “brick-and-mortar” trade
forums in favour of online platforms in its bid to expand market for
farm produce in China, the exports and branding agency has said.
The
Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (Keproba) said it is
considering more deals with Chinese online marketing firms and cutting
budgets for trade expositions in the world’s most populous country.
A
majority of Chinese buyers initiate and close deals online as opposed
to retail chains, Keproba chief executive Peter Biwott said.
Showcasing
Kenyan farm produce on giant e-commerce platforms such as
Beijing-headquartered JD.com will boost their visibility not only to
Chinese consumers but also to the global markets, he said.
“Adoption of online technologies would be critical since eight out of 10 Chinese consumers are online buyers,” Mr Biwott said.
Nairobi sees the large Chinese market as key to achieving an
ambitious target of growing her sluggish exports by an average of 25
percent every year under Integrated National Exports Development and
Promotion Strategy, unveiled in July 2018.
Since
establishing a trade development technical working group to facilitate
negotiations on expanding opportunities and review of deterrent tariffs
and non-tariffs, through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in
November 2018, Nairobi has actively participated in trade fairs in
China.
The fairs include China International Import
Exposition (November 2018), Road and Belt Forum (April 2019), Forum for
China and Africa Co-operation (June 2019) and first China-Africa
Economic and Trade Expo (July 2019)
The two countries
have since signed a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Protocol, setting
stringent agricultural health standards that Kenyan produce have to meet
to access the world’s second-largest economy.
Coffee,
specialty tea, cut flowers, vegetables, avocados, french beans, legumes
(such as peas, beans and green grammes), herbs, mangoes, peanuts and
macadamia are some of the farm produce Kenya has identified as having
huge potential for growth in China.
While tea and
coffee have been penetrating the Chinese markets, new ones such as
avocados are struggling to gain direct access due to the stringent
export rules.
“The first frozen avocado exports landed
in China in September and we are working closely with exporters to
ensure this opportunity is increased and Kenya gains a larger slice of
the pie,” Mr Biwott said.
“Some of the strategies
include scaling up trade promotion activities and linking Kenya
exporters to Chinese buyers. We also want to create exporter-buyer
frameworks that would deliver more goods and services by Kenyans to
China.”
China bought goods worth a record Sh7.48
billion compared to Sh4.30 billion in the same period of 2018, the Kenya
National Bureau of Statistics indicates.
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