Kenya is stepping up efforts to expand its presence in Europe, with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and public and private sector partners launching the Kenya-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Export Catalogue to connect local manufacturers and exporters with new commercial opportunities.
The initiative comes as the government seeks to reduce reliance on a handful of traditional European markets, broaden the range of Kenyan products sold abroad and increase earnings from exports, particularly manufactured goods and value-added agricultural products.
Kenya’s exports to the European Union (EU) increased by 4.5 per cent, from KSh150.1 billion in 2023 to KSh156.9 billion in 2024, according to the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry. The growth was supported by increased exports of beans, pineapples, cut flowers and coffee to Germany, as well as maize oil and cottonseed oil to Italy.
The figures highlight the potential for Kenya to build on established agricultural exports while opening additional markets for locally manufactured products.
The EU is one of Kenya’s most important trading partners, providing a large consumer market for flowers, tea, coffee, vegetables, fruits, nuts and other agricultural commodities. However, Kenyan exporters have traditionally concentrated on a relatively small group of European destinations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain.
The government’s EPA implementation strategy seeks to expand exports from these established destinations to at least half of the EU’s member states over the next decade, while diversifying the country’s export basket beyond traditional agricultural commodities.
The export catalogue is expected to help bridge the gap between Kenyan producers and European buyers by improving access to information on locally available products and their potential markets.
For manufacturers, the initiative presents an opportunity to identify new distributors, establish commercial partnerships and increase production for export. It could also help smaller businesses explore markets that have previously been difficult to access because of limited market intelligence, distribution networks and knowledge of European regulatory requirements.
The drive is underpinned by the Kenya-EU EPA, which came into force on July 1, 2024, granting Kenyan products duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market. The agreement is designed to improve trade predictability, encourage investment and strengthen Kenya’s competitiveness in Europe.
