Kenya emerged Second Best Foreign Exhibitor’s category at the just concluded 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair which took place from 28th June to 13th July 2022 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The 46th DITF theme was ‘Industrialization for Job Creation and Sustainable Trade’ and provided a great opportunity for Kenyan companies to showcase and benchmark their quality of products with other participating countries eyeing the same market. Kenya hope to regain her stronghold and reinstate her position as a leading trading partner with Tanzania by the year 2025.
The Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency spearheaded Kenya’s participation having prioritized 22 products under the revised strategy for export growth as focal in the export development campaign. Kenya leveraged on the event to test the viability of these products in different markets across the East African region as well as the greater African region.
Among the Kenyan companies that exhibited in the trade fair are:
- Fret Naturals
- Kevian Kenya Ltd
- Glerian Ltd
- K Engineering company ltd
- Revital Healthcare EPZ Ltd
- New Kenya Cooperatives Creamery
- Kenya Dairy Board
- Kenya Tea Packers Ltd (KETEPA)
- Anzuki Recycle Designers
- Kenya Bureau of standards
- Bata Shoe Company
- Kenya Maritime Authority
- Greytrix Africa
- Cofftea Agencies Ltd
- X-ONE
The Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair reached out to at least 400,000 exhibition and visitors profiles that included Importers, wholesalers, agents, traders, consumers, business executives, Government Officials, Diplomats, Political Leaders and members of the general Public.
Kenya leveraged on the trade fair to diversify export products into Tanzania by seeking to provide a wider variety of other value-added manufactured goods and services such as financial, ICT, education, hospitality, warehousing, transportation and Building & Construction to enhance trade relations between the two countries and reduce the trade gap.
The trade fair comes barely a year after the Kenya-Tanzania Business Forum took place in Nairobi led by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu. The two countries promised to solve strained business relations and mark the beginning of bilateral trade, tourism, investment and addressing the tariff barriers.
Tanzania is Kenya’s sixth largest export destination with exports worth Kshs. 40.4 billion which contributed to 33% of the country’s total revenues generated from exports to the EAC market in 2021. Tanzania’s exports to the country have doubled from Kshs 27.8 billion in 2020 to Kshs 54.4 billion in 2021.
Flat rolled iron, cooking oils, soaps, fertilisers, insecticides, paperboards, medicaments, footwear and sugar confectionary account to 80% of the products exported into the Tanzanian market from Kenya.
Kenya’s participation in the trade fair aided the participating firms to benchmark their priority products against competitors from the EAC economic bloc and its neighbours. Besides benchmarking, the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair gave Kenya the opportunity to explore potential markets in countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.