PAKISTANI DECISION WILL HURT KENYAN TEA EXPORTS
Pakistan's decision to suspend tea
import licences will hurt Kenyan tea exports in the short term
while exporters seek new markets, sources close to Nairobi
broking houses and exporters said.
    Broking house officials in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo
yesterday told Reuters Pakistan had suspended the licences in
order to link tea imports to Pakistani exports.
    The latest available figures show that Kenyan exports to
Pakistan, mainly tea, were worth 75 mln dlrs in 1985, while
imports from Pakistan amounted to only 4.8 mln dlrs. Kenya
provides over 50 pct of Pakistan's tea imports.
    The Nairobi sources said the Pakistani decision did not
come as a surprise as Pakistan had been complaining of the
trade imbalance for some time.
    "We are very disappointed that Pakistan took such action ...
(it) will certainly hurt Kenya's tea industry in the short term
as Pakistan is Kenya's second largest market," a source at one
broking house told Reuters.
    One tea broker said Pakistan's move had already affected
Kenya's tea trade and was largely responsible for an average
fall of two shillings a kilo at the export auction in Mombasa
last Monday.
    "The trend is likely to continue until other countries
replace Pakistan, which usually buys all qualities of our tea,"
he added.
    Kenya has for a long time relied on Britain, Pakistan,
Egypt and, to a lesser extent the United States, as major
markets for its tea, the sources added.
    Small-scale exporters who export mainly to Pakistan would
be worst hit by the Pakistani move as it would take them longer
to find new outlets, they said.
 REUTER
