Kenya–UK trade and investment relations: taking stock and promoting exports to the UK: Taking stock and promoting exports to the UK

This briefing discusses the current state of trade patterns and investment flows between the UK and Kenya, develops tools to help identify key products and promising sectors for export, and proposes a selected range of policy measures to support these sectors and to increase trade and business linkages between Kenya and the UK. It has been drafted jointly with the Kenyan Export Promotion Council (EPC) in support of the national export development and promotion strategy for Kenya 2017-2022.

Key messages:

Kenya’s share of exports to the UK is declining. Kenya is facing competition from Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Cote D’Ivoire among others, due to wages, marketing systems and standards compliance.

• Detailed trade analysis can help to prioritise export products from Kenya to the UK into ‘sunrise’ (such as leather shoes and t-shirts), ‘cash cow’ (tea, coffee, flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables), and other products.

• Continued attention to improving international market access to firms in UK, EU, US, Asia, investing in trade-related infrastructure, and strengthening domestic policies in relation to development of economic zones, can improve Kenya’s investment climate and export performance.