This archive report was first published on 16 December 2019.
Kenya's earnings from miraa exports to Somalia have hit a five-year low, with provisional trade statistics showing a significant decline in September 2019.
The value of exports to Somalia, which mainly comprise miraa, dropped by 93.5 percent to Sh647 million in September, compared to Sh1.25 billion in the same period the previous year, according to the Central Bank of Kenya.
This was the lowest monthly income from the sale of goods to Somalia since June 2014, with the country's main market for miraa traders, Mogadishu, experiencing a significant decline in earnings.
Traders attribute the decline to erratic production due to prolonged drought spells between 2017 and April 2019, as well as an unresolved diplomatic tiff between the two countries.
As a result, earnings from consignments to Somalia in the first nine months of the year amounted to Sh8.96 billion, the lowest in the same period since 2009.
"The prolonged drought periods made miraa very scarce and it became very expensive (for Somali markets). So, somehow because of problems of supply, we are not able to export much," said Kimathi Munjuri, chairperson of Nyambene Miraa Traders Association.
Kenya and Somalia are embroiled in a long-standing row over the ownership of a triangle in the Indian Ocean measuring about 100,000 square kilometres, believed to be rich in oil and gas resources.
