Kenya Secures Duty-Free Access to China. Its Farmers May Still Struggle to Cash In

File image of bags full of tea leaves are arranged inside the tea processing factory at Kipkebe Tea Estate near Musereita, Kenya.

There’s been a lot of discussion in Kenya over the weekend about how the country can best take advantage of a preliminary trade agreement signed late last week that grants 98.2% of Kenyan exports duty-free access to the Chinese market.

The new pact would “unlock vast economic potential for Kenyan exporters, allowing for diversification of our export basket especially in the agricultural sector, which is the mainstay of our economy,” Lee Kinyanjui, Kenya’s trade minister, said in a statement.

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by Eric Olander

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