This archive report was first published on 10 September 2021.
Published on September 10, 2021, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics revealed a bleak picture of the country's manufacturing sector and international trade performance in 2020.
The sector contracted by 0.3 percent, a result of the harsh economic environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 Economic Survey attributed the slump to the measures instituted by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.
Formal employment in the sector declined by 10.3 percent to 3.6 million in the period under review. The number of local employees in Export Processing Zone enterprises also decreased to 55,736.
However, sales in EPZ firms increased by 4.3 percent to Sh80.5 billion in 2020, while imports contracted by 7.5 percent to Sh36.8 billion.
According to the survey, the value of export articles of apparel under the African Growth and Opportunity Act decreased by 8.3 percent to Sh42.3 billion in 2020, mainly due to inadequate supply of raw materials and the market lockdown in the USA.
Kenya's total volume of trade decreased to Sh2.29 trillion, with imports valued at Sh1.64 trillion and total exports standing at Sh640 billion.
Notably, the manufacturing sector performance was boosted by tea, sugar, and cement production, which grew by 24.1 percent, 36.9 percent, and 21.3 percent respectively.
Credit to the sector also grew by 11.8 percent to Sh410.3 billion in 2020.
As a result, the sector witnessed reduced demand for manufacturing products both locally and internationally, with the real gross value contracting by -0.1 percent compared to a growth of 2.5 percent in 2019.
