Market News

Djibouti officials fail to show up for miraa trade talks

miraa pic

A miraa trader displays his crop. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Kenya’s quest to export miraa to Djibouti to compensate for the troubled Somalia market has hit a snag after the officials from the Horn of Africa country failed to show up at a scheduled meeting that was to take place in August.

Officials from Djibouti were to visit Kenya in August after their counterparts from the Ministry of Trade and the Meru County went to the county in search of a new market.

However, the officials did not show up with stakeholders blaming Ethiopia’s hand on it given that Djibouti is a key market for Addis Ababa.

“It’s like we are missing the Djibouti market because the officials from that country have failed to show up in August as it had been planned,” said Nyambene Miraa Traders Association (Nyamita) chairman Kimathi Munjuri.

The Djibouti market is an initiative of the County Government of Meru, which through the ministry of trade is pushing for that access after Kenya lost the 16 million a day Somalia market.

Mr Munjuri said Djibouti was the next big market for Kenyan miraa after the standoff between Kenya and Somalia escalated for long with traders failing to access the market for almost two years now.

The official said the Somalia market is no longer tenable and that Kenya has to scout for new markets elsewhere as the political tension in Mogadishu between the President and the prime minister, coupled with this week’s ruling on Kenya-Somalia maritime border will further complicate the access to that market.

Somalia currently allows Ethiopia to export its khat to the country, technically locking out Kenya out of this crucial market.