{"id":135229,"date":"2026-03-24T07:02:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T07:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/kenya-eyes-expanded-china-trade-to-narrow-sh500-billion-deficit\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T07:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T07:02:52","slug":"kenya-eyes-expanded-china-trade-to-narrow-sh500-billion-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/kenya-eyes-expanded-china-trade-to-narrow-sh500-billion-deficit\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya eyes expanded China trade to narrow Sh500 billion deficit"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 24 \u2013 Kenya is seeking to expand trade with China in a bid to narrow the trade deficit, which currently stands at slightly over Sh500 billion, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kindiki, who hosted Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, noted that while Kenya and China have enjoyed strong bilateral relations since Kenya gained independence in 1963, the trade imbalance between the two countries has remained significant. He called for the exploration of new business frontiers to help close the gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur shared objective is to expand Kenya\u2019s exports to the Chinese market, particularly value-added agricultural products, scale up the value chain, increase manufacturing cooperation and move towards more balanced trade between our two economies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Deputy President spoke on Monday at the High-Level Kenya-China Business Forum in Nairobi, which was also attended by Han.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Kindiki said targeted interventions in agriculture had boosted production in key sub-sectors such as coffee, tea, avocados and macadamia, and urged greater focus on these areas to improve exports to China.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenya has the best coffee in the world, the best tea in the world. Kenya is the largest producer of avocados in Africa and the second-largest producer of macadamia on the continent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to request our Chinese friends to consider increasing their imports of coffee, tea, avocados, nuts, fish and fish products, among others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s exports to China currently stand at USD 0.21 billion, against imports worth USD 4.32 billion, leaving a trade deficit of about USD 4 billion.<\/p>\n

To address the imbalance, President William Ruto and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a Framework Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Development in April 2025, paving the way for Kenyan products to access the Chinese market at zero tariff from May 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Kindiki challenged the private sector to take full advantage of the deal, saying access to China\u2019s 1.4 billion-strong market had now become easier and more valuable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking forward to maximising the zero-tariff opportunity to increase Kenya\u2019s exports to China,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Later, the Deputy President and Han flagged off the first consignment of exports to China set to benefit from the zero-tariff arrangement at the Nairobi Railway Terminus.<\/p>\n

Kindiki said the shipment symbolised the growing economic cooperation between Kenya and China, as well as the expanding opportunities available to Kenyan exporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to seeing many more Kenyan products reaching Chinese consumers in the years ahead, while advancing our shared priorities in trade, investment and sustainable development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The initial consignment comprised 54 containers carrying avocados, avocado oil, hides and skins, coffee beans, dry grains, pet pellets and recyclable materials.<\/p>\n

The Deputy President also praised China\u2019s contribution to the growth of Kenya\u2019s infrastructure, particularly in the railway sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cooperation between Kenya and China under the Belt and Road Initiative has contributed significantly to improving logistics and transport networks, including the development of the Standard Gauge Railway, which has strengthened the movement of goods between production centres, the Port of Mombasa and global markets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The SGR is expected to be extended to Kisumu and Malaba in the coming years under a similar cooperation framework.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 24 \u2013 Kenya is seeking to expand trade with China in a bid to narrow the trade deficit, which currently stands at slightly over Sh500 billion, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said. Kindiki, who hosted Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, noted that while Kenya and China have enjoyed strong bilateral relations since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}