Saudi Arabia overtakes China, India and UAE as Kenya’s top import market

Saudi Arabia overtakes China, India and UAE as Kenya’s top single import market according latest report from KNBS.

For the first time, Saudi Arabia surpassed China, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as Kenya’s largest single import market, highlighting the importance of petroleum products in fueling the nation’s trade deficit.

According to data issued by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, goods imported from the largest economy in the Middle East climbed by almost three times to Sh32.27 billion in March from Sh8.44 billion a month earlier on higher orders of diesel.

This was the highest import bill for the month ahead of China (Sh30.34 billion), India (Sh27.32 billion) and the UAE (Sh13.93 billion).

According to the KNBS data, the increase in Saudi Arabian imports in March was mostly caused by higher shipments of gas oil (diesel), the majority of which had previously come from the UAE.

Before the first shipment under the government-to-government fuel import agreement that was signed with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on March 10 arrived in Mombasa, there was an increase in the purchase of diesel from Saudi Arabia as opposed to the UAE.

The KNBS data showed diesel replaced jet fuel as the top import by value from the world’s second producer of oil, despite not featuring in the top three goods bought from Saudi Arabia in the previous months.

Oil marketers shipped in nearly 123.61 million litres of gas oil at a cost of Sh13.84 billion in the review month, followed by jet fuel (Sh6.75 billion) and fertiliser (diammonium phosphate) at a value of Sh6.51 billion.

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This was unlike in February when top imports from Saudi Arabia were jet fuel at Sh3.66 billion followed by butanes (cooking gas) at Sh1.06 billion and polypropylene (plastics) at Sh648.16 million.

The leading exports from Saudi Arabia to Kenya in March of last year were jet fuel (Sh2.78 billion), fertiliser (Sh2.57 billion) and cement clinkers (Sh1.16 billion).

China has for more than a decade been Kenya’s largest source market for goods such as electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, iron and steel, plastics, articles of apparel and furniture.

Petroleum products have in the past year become the biggest driver of Kenya’s import bill owing to high global prices.

Increased sourcing of petroleum products from the UAE saw the Middle East country leapfrog China and India to become the largest source of imports by value between December and February.

Kenya is currently getting fuel on credit under the deal the Ruto administration brokered with Saudi Arabia’s State-owned Aramco as well as UAE’s Emirates National Oil Corporation (Enoc) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation Global Trading (Adnoc).

Aramco is supplying the country through Oryx and Galana, Adnoc picked Gulf Energy to supply diesel and jet fuel while Enoc also settled on Gulf Energy to import super.

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