WILLIAM RUTO LANDS A NEW TRADE DEAL

Kenya will this year ship 20,000 tonnes of avocados to China, the country’s Department of African Affairs has said.

In a statement on his official Twitter handle on Friday, the department’s Director General Wu Peng said the first batch of the consignment has arrived in China.

“With the arrival of the 1st batch of avocados from Kenya in 2023, it is estimated that 20 thousand tons of Kenyan avocados will come to China this year. The achievement is quite encouraging,” Peng said.

China is a high-value avocado market and it imports the bulk of avocados during the summer months between June and August.

The country brings in small amounts of avocado the rest of the year from countries whose season comes later.

During his campaigns last year, President William Ruto who was then the Deputy President said he would use avocados to clear the huge debt Kenya owes China.

While speaking in Nyeri on February 14, 2022, Ruto said his administration would export avocados to the Chinese market whose buying price is much higher compared to the local market.

“In China, an avocado that is sold at Sh20 here is sold at Sh150 while in Europe, it is Sh128 (one Euro), we must open that market,” Ruto said.

He said opening the Chinese market would be easier since Kenya already owes the Chinese hundreds of billions in loans.

“We will tell them that there is no other way to pay off the debt, take these avocados at this cost, and we will pay the debt quickly,” Ruto said.

China is the biggest external lender to Kenya accounting for 67 per cent of total external debt, mainly infrastructure financing including the Sh324 billion SGR loan.