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Kenyan traders say they have had enough with Tanzania playing hard when it comes to local products entering the market.
Whether to label Kiswahili items or to conceal visa fees for traders entering Tanzania and heavy taxes making products difficult to sell, Kenyan traders are now pushing for retaliation that may result in spasmodic bilateral tiffs between the two. East African neighbors.
Tanzania, according to the details of multiple meetings expected to break the stalemate in trade between the two countries, has continued to tip the scales, even when goods from the country enter Kenya freely.
According to sources close to what was happening, the quarrel that had been brewing since a Sector Council for Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) was held in Arusha from 12 November 16th.
The Kenyan delegation led by the secretary of the Cabinet of Commerce and Industrialization, Peter Munya, went to Tanzania for the second time after a similar forum had been held in May to share concerns over the multiple non-tariff barriers imposed on Kenyan products entering Tanzanian territory.
While partner states in the East Africa region are required to process products made in different countries, such as locals, Tanzania has found various reasons for imposing heavy burdens on Kenyan products.
He cites several inconsistencies, including the duty-free import of sugar into the Kenyan market in 2017.
The Tanzanian authorities insist that Kenyan manufacturers have used this duty-free product to make candies and other confectionery.
Dar then imposed a 25% import duty on Kenyan confectionery, fruit juice, ice cream and chewing gum. This obligation lasted for months, forcing Kenya to threaten its neighbor after Tanzanian officials visited Kenyan factories to verify that their application had been postponed.
Uganda had joined the punitive law, with Kenyan products becoming uncompetitive on both markets and traders suffering huge losses.
When they finally visited in June 2018 and found that none of the Kenyan confectionery and sugar-based product manufacturers benefited from duty-free imports of sugar, only Uganda had lifted rights. Tanzania refused to stand out.
"Uganda has implemented the findings while Tanzania has indicated that it has reservations. In addition, Tanzania imposes a 35% tax on confectionery products and sugar products. It also levies a 1.5% tax on the development of railways and a tax of 1.5%, among others, the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA). This is contrary to what Tanzania had ordered not to charge tariffs suspended at SCTIFI in May 2018, "read a paper prepared by the Kenya Manufacturers Association after the November meeting.
Tanzania reportedly wrote to the EAC secretariat to explain the reasons for its refusal to grant preferential treatment to Kenyan confectioneries. The question remains unresolved.
Tanzania has since requested a second audit; a move that Kenya rejected, according to KAM's record.
"The Republic of Kenya finds no interest in the second verification proposed by the United Republic of Tanzania and therefore rejects it. It also forces Kenya to retaliate against similar Tanzanian products: fruit juice, confectionery, ice cream, "reads KAM's briefing.
The East African Community Common Market, consisting of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, allows the free circulation of locally manufactured products in the East African Community. block.
Duty-free sugar is not only the bone of contention between the two countries, Tanzania is also punishing Kenyan tobacco manufacturers who export the product to the country, in a dispute that has not been resolved since 2005, year of the customs union.
Even the various bodies, including the bilateral and presidential level meetings between the two countries, have not been able to solve the problem. Tanzania continues to receive an 80% discriminatory excise duty on tobacco products from Kenya, making them too expensive to compete in the country.
In August, Tanzania announced in the Gazette that its beef-based retailers were unable to supply Kenyans to the market. The increase in royalties has also rendered animals and their products from Kenya uncompetitive in Tanzania.
One liter of UHT milk from Kenya, for example, has been reduced from 300 Tanzanian shillings to 6500 Tanzanian shillings (284 shillings) compared to local products sold at 3,300 Tanzanian shillings after the rights were awarded to them under the country. partners to impose protection taxes on local products of partner countries.
Kenyan traders were also unhappy with Tanzania for charging $ 250 for a business visa. The fees charged to all EAC businessmen entering Tanzania bear the "Temporary Attachment Certificate (CTA)" label, as Tanzania maintains that it is simply a "right to a laissez-passer". pass".
Kenyan traders are now demanding a visa or similar discriminatory pass fees until the charges are dropped by Tanzania.
Kenya imports mostly wheat, textiles and clothing, cooking gas, hides and skins, oilseeds, vegetables, rice, paper and cardboard, shoes, wood, plastic and wood. rubber, among other Tanzanian products.
Exporters who spoke to Sunday Nation incognito for fear of further product discrimination said that goods from Tanzania were soft in Kenya, with some traders boasting of Kenyan authorities "in their pockets".
"When we make a ban, Tanzania pulls the diplomatic card and then we start negotiations, a temporary truce, and then we return to our current position. It is tiring and Kenya must now act to save us from this unfair trade, "said the exporter, adding that the highest trade authorities were aware of the vagueness that reigned over the trade.
These barriers, including the long processing of export documents from a single customs territory (TBS), which require up to 10 days to be cleared instead of three, add to the cost Business as carriers charge up to 30,000 shillings of late inclined cross-border trade in favor of Tanzania in stirring protests from local manufacturers.
Kenya's EAC exports decreased by 30%, from $ 1.6 billion to $ 1.1 billion between 2012 and 2017, while imports increased by 60% from $ 0.4 billion to $ 0.6 billion. billion dollars over the same period.
The increase in exports from Tanzania and Uganda, however, has increased intraregional exports from $ 2.7 billion in 2016 to $ 2.9 billion in 2017. Exports from Tanzania and the United States Uganda increased by 18.4% and 37.3% respectively.
Rwanda recorded intra-regional export growth of 6.4%, while Kenya, South Sudan and Burundi saw a decline of 7.4%, 24.2% and 6%, respectively.
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