NAIROBI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's exports declined by 2.9 percent to hit 597 billion shillings (5.56 billion U.S. dollars) while total imports increased by 2.4 percent to 16.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, says the economic survey released on Tuesday.

According to the annual publication by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the balance of trade deteriorated by 5.2 percent even as the value of total trade transactions increased in 2019.

"Horticulture, tea, articles of apparel and clothing accessories, coffee, and iron and steel, remained the leading export earners, collectively accounting for 59 percent of the total value of domestic exports," says the Economic Survey 2020 that highlights the economic performance and indicators for last year.

The findings indicate that last year major imports included: petroleum products; industrial machineries; iron and steel; road motor vehicles; plastics in primary and non-primary form; and pharmaceutical products, which collectively accounted for 49.5 percent of the total import bill.

The review notes that the rise in the total import bill against the decline in total export earnings led to deterioration of export-import ratio from 34.8 percent in 2018 to 33 percent in 2019.

According to the survey, Africa remained the leading export destination, accounting for 37.6 percent of the total exports with earnings amounting to 2.1 billion U.S. dollars while total exports to East African Community (EAC) expanded by 100 million U.S. dollars to 1.3 billion U.S. dollars and accounted for 23.5 percent of the total exports.

The findings show that the value of exports to Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda increased last year partly on account of more soap and crude palm oil sales while the value of exports to Somalia declined mainly occasioned by a decrease in domestic exports of cigarettes, during the review period.

The review indicates that the value of exports to Asia declined by 13.8 percent to 1.45 billion U.S. dollars while the value of exports to the Middle East rose by 3.6 percent to 615 million U.S. dollars in 2019, mainly due to increase in the value of exports of goat meat.

The report also shows that exports to the Far East declined by 23.2 percent to 838 million U.S. dollars in 2019, mainly attributable to decreases in the value of exports of horticultural products and tea while exports to China went up by 36.2 percent due to increase in the value of exports of titanium ores and concentrates.

The findings indicate that the total value of exports to the European Union increased by 1.4 percent to 1.24 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 and was occasioned by increased domestic exports of coffee and horticultural products to the region.

The survey shows total value of exports to the U.S. rose by 9.7 percent to 483 million U.S. dollars and the growth was partly attributed to increase in the value of domestic exports of titanium ores and concentrates, and articles of apparels and clothing accessories. Enditem

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