Saudi Arabia has topped the list as Kenya’s largest single import market beating the United Arab Emirates UAE, China and India emphasizing the importance of petroleum products in fueling the country’s trade imbalance.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data stated that goods imported from Saudi Arabia went up close to three times having been at Ksh 32.27 billion in March from Ksh8.44 billion in February on higher fuel orders.
China was second on the list at Ksh30.34 billion followed by India at Ksh 27.32 billion and the UAE at Ksh13.93 billion. The KNBS data statistics state that the jump in Saudi Arabian imports in March was mainly caused by higher shipments of diesel which were in the past imported from UAE.
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The statistics also reveal that diesel surpassed jet fuel as the top import by value from Saudi Arabia which is the second largest oil producer in spite of it not appearing among the top three products purchased from the country in the previous months.
In the month of March, a total of Ksh13.84 billion worth of gas oil was imported by oil marketers followed by Ksh6.75 billion for jet fuel and Ksh6.51 billion worth of fertilizers.
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During the month of February, the main imports were plastics which were worth Ksh648.16 million, cooking gas at Ksh1.06 billion and jet fuel worth Ksh3.66 billion. Kenya’s imports from Saudi Arabia in March 2022 were jet fuel costing Ksh2.78 billion, fertilizer worth Ksh2.57 billion and cement clinkers worth Ksh1.16 billion.
