Kenya looks to China's zero tariffs to expand exports after its sales to China fell 35.7 percent in 2025

Kenya is looking to China's zero-tariff treatment for eligible products to expand exports and attract investment in value-added production, China Daily reported on 16 October 2026 from the Africa Commerce and Industry Summit in Nairobi. Kenya's exports to China fell 35.7 percent in 2025.

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data show Kenya sold KSh 16.9 billion of goods to China in 2025, down from KSh 26.3 billion in 2024, Business Daily reported on 3 May. Imports from China rose 16.5 percent to KSh 671.2 billion, and the trade deficit with China reached a record KSh 654.3 billion. KNBS attributed the export slump largely to a decline in key commodities, particularly titanium ores and concentrates and macadamia nuts. Titanium ore mined in Kwale since 2013 was exhausted in 2024, and the Agriculture and Food Authority banned the harvest and export of macadamia nuts. The figures predate China's zero tariffs for Kenya, which took effect on 1 May 2026.

China's State Council Customs Tariff Commission announced on 28 April that from 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2028 it would apply zero tariffs, as a preferential rate, to the 20 African countries that have diplomatic ties with China and are not least developed countries, Xinhua reported. Kenya is on the list of countries annexed to the notice. For goods under tariff quotas, only the in-quota rate falls to zero; the out-of-quota rate is unchanged. Since 1 December 2024, China has applied zero tariffs to 100 percent of tariff lines for the 33 least developed African countries with which it has diplomatic ties, bringing the total to 53 countries.

China Daily quoted several speakers at the summit. Lee Kinyanjui, Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry, said on 14 October that Kenya's ability to benefit from international markets would also depend on stronger regional trade and more competitive local industries, and that Africa must tackle barriers that make it expensive and difficult to move goods across borders. He put intra-African trade at about 17 percent of the continent's total trade, against around 60 percent in Europe.

Regina Ombam, Principal Secretary for Trade, said Africa must move away from exporting raw materials and importing manufactured goods. She urged Kenya to diversify beyond tea, coffee and horticultural produce into processed foods, essential oils, cosmetics and other higher-value products.

Erick Rutto, president of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), which hosted the summit, said the chamber's permanent representative office in Changsha, in China's Hunan Province, had supported more than 1,000 Kenyan business leaders and helped organise business missions since it was set up in 2023.

Qin Xiaoying, vice-president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, cited Kenyan flowers and coffee entering China through Changsha, and machinery made in Hunan reaching African markets. The Kenya News Agency (KNA) reported on 15 October that she also said the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo had recorded cumulative agreements worth US$64.71 billion across four editions involving 53 countries, and spoke of China's efforts to open its market to African products.

Cynthia Essonam, director of private sector engagement and communications at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, said faster implementation of the AfCFTA would let businesses build regional production networks.

The summit ran from 14 to 16 October at the Uhuru Gardens National Monument and Museum under the theme "Driving Africa's Next Era of Trade", with more than 5,000 delegates from 50 countries, KNA reported. The event coincided with KNCCI's 60th anniversary.

Capital FM reported on 30 July that Rutto said at a Nairobi symposium on the policy: "We are very much excited on zero tariff market access to China."