High cost of transport and stringent quality standards have locked out most of Kenya’s fresh produce from the American market in spite of the decade old preferential export window extended to African countries, market players say.
Flowers, vegetables, and fruits are allowed duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), but market players said high cost of getting their goods to the market has confined them to Europe.
Kenyan exporters said the US was a “volumes” (mass) market whose buyers place orders in several tonnes but for a long time, major airlines charged higher freight rates of Sh320 ($4) per kilogramme (Sh320,000 per tonne of fresh produce exported).
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