Kenya ships Ksh.9M exide batteries in Africa trade pact pilot

Kenya has shipped exide batteries valued at an estimated Ksh.9.3 million ($77,000) in the pilot phase of the Africa Free Continental Trade Area (AfCTA) pact.

The consignment of Kenyan made batteries is set to land in the Port of Tema in Ghana later on Friday.

The arrival of the exports will mark Kenya’s formal start of preferential trading under the AfCTA agreement.

The pilot phase of the pact was launched following the realization that no trading was taking place one and a half years after the launch of AfCTA preferential trading on January 1, 2021.

Six countries are participating in the pilot including Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Rwanda and Tanzania.

The pilot signals the readiness of the six countries to commercial commence trading under the AfCTA preferences.

Kenya has identified tea, exide batteries, confectionery, leather bags, incinerators, beaded products, vehicular filters, textiles, sisal fibre, avocadoes and fresh produce for the pilot initiative.

The exide batteries consignment has been sourced from Associated Battery Manufacturing East Africa Limited.

The company is the first from Kenya to start trading under AfCTA and also the first local firm to ship exide batteries to the Ghanaian market.