Kenyan firms are planning to expand into the populous Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is about to join regional trading bloc after making formal application in June 2019.
The admission of DRC into six-nation East African Community (EAC), expected to be concluded this year, is projected to strengthen trade ties, expanding market for goods and services.
The mineral-rich country already has established trade ties with most of the EAC member states through bilateral deals and at multilateral level through Southern African Development Community (SADC) where Tanzania is a member.
“With a population of over 90 million, DRC offers Kenyan manufacturers a larger market for their products,” Mr Mucai Kunyiha, the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), told the Business Daily .
“Its rich appetite for agricultural produce shall enable local manufacturers expand their volume of exports.”
With a surface area equivalent to that of western Europe, the DRC is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, only is dwarfed by Algeria in the continent.
Analysts say it offers huge untapped opportunity for access to one of the world’s last economic frontier markets.
The central African country, 11th largest in the world by area, is endowed with exceptional natural resources, including minerals such as cobalt and copper, hydropower potential, significant arable land, immense biodiversity and the world’s second-largest rainforest.
“We are at advanced stage (of admitting DRC into EAC). We are in the last step to present findings to the (EAC Heads of State) Summit. It will certainly make a difference to the smallest person all the way to multinationals,” EAC Affairs Principal Secretary Kevit Dasai said recently.
“The importance of the private sector leadership need to be stressed because while the government is rolling out structures and fabrics, it’s up to them (business leaders) to promote leadership.”
DRC is already a key African market for Kenyan firms with latest official annual data showing exports earnings from the country amounted to Sh14.3 billion in 2020 — only dwarfed by Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt and South Sudan.Some of the key exports to DRC are animal and vegetable fats and oils, pharmaceutical products, tobacco, iron and steel, leather and footwear, vegetables, fruits, nuts, plastics as well as paper and paperboard.“With enhanced access to the DRC market, the volume of these exports is expected to rise in the near term, and pave way for more products,” Mr Kunyiha said.Dominic Kahozi, a director at DRC’s National Agency for the Promotion of […]