Kenya has pressed China to eliminate tariffs on key agricultural exports, warning that high duties on products such as coffee, tea and avocados are deepening an already severe trade imbalance.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe made the appeal in Beijing during talks with senior officials from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC), led by Vice Minister Wang Jun. The Chinese delegation included directors overseeing duty collection, quarantine and international trade cooperation.
Kagwe said Kenyan producers were being priced out of the Chinese market by tariffs that run as high as 20 percent. Non-roasted coffee currently attracts an 8 percent duty, roasted coffee 20 percent, tea 15 percent and avocados up to 20 percent.
He urged Beijing to move “quickly” toward zero-tariff access, arguing that the change would directly support farmers while helping to narrow Kenya’s steep trade deficit with China.
In 2024, Kenya imported goods worth about KSh 583 billion from China but exported only KSh 37 billion, mostly raw farm products. Kagwe called the gulf “unsustainable” and said Nairobi needed “urgent action” to rebalance trade flows.
“When the President was in Kenya, they developed a very robust trading agreement which we in the Ministry of Agriculture would like to take advantage of,” he said.
Officials said both sides are now finalising a trade framework that could lift duties on major agricultural exports. Kagwe added that Kenya has completed technical submissions for fresh mangoes, dried chillies, green grams, dried fruits and plant-based medicinal products.
