PAKISTANI DECISION WILL HURT KENYAN TEA EXPORTS

  Pakistan's decision to suspend tea
  import licences will hurt Kenyan tea exports in the short term
  while exporters seek new markets, sources close to Nairobi
  broking houses and exporters said.
      Broking house officials in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo
  yesterday told Reuters Pakistan had suspended the licences in
  order to link tea imports to Pakistani exports.
      The latest available figures show that Kenyan exports to
  Pakistan, mainly tea, were worth 75 mln dlrs in 1985, while
  imports from Pakistan amounted to only 4.8 mln dlrs. Kenya
  provides over 50 pct of Pakistan's tea imports.
      The Nairobi sources said the Pakistani decision did not
  come as a surprise as Pakistan had been complaining of the
  trade imbalance for some time.
      "We are very disappointed that Pakistan took such action ...
  (it) will certainly hurt Kenya's tea industry in the short term
  as Pakistan is Kenya's second largest market," a source at one
  broking house told Reuters.
      One tea broker said Pakistan's move had already affected
  Kenya's tea trade and was largely responsible for an average
  fall of two shillings a kilo at the export auction in Mombasa
  last Monday.
      "The trend is likely to continue until other countries
  replace Pakistan, which usually buys all qualities of our tea,"
  he added.
      Kenya has for a long time relied on Britain, Pakistan,
  Egypt and, to a lesser extent the United States, as major
  markets for its tea, the sources added.
      Small-scale exporters who export mainly to Pakistan would
  be worst hit by the Pakistani move as it would take them longer
  to find new outlets, they said.
  

