Multi-service centres to ease export costs

Rwanda is set to establish multi-service centres in all its export destinations in a bid to reduce costs of transporting exports.The minister of Trade and Industry, François Kanimba, made the revelation on Monday while addressing local exporters who participated in the recent Rwanda- Gabon exhibition in Libreville. “We are looking at these centres to help us improve our volumes and see how our exporters can minimise costs because this is the only way we can boost our exports,” he said.The minister added that the move will minimise export losses by setting up bonded warehouses in the country’s export destinations. The Minister said the centres will be managed under a public-private partnership.The move is part of broader efforts to address the country’s trade deficit by increasing the level of exports.Various studies suggest that one of the major bottlenecks to Rwanda’s exports is high transport costs due to the landlocked nature of the country.“Our products have high demand in all the markets we go to but at times, our prices are high because of transport costs,” said Esperance Kanani, the Managing Director of SOCOPADI Ltd, an agricultural products exporter. A Rwandan exporter pays US$3,275 to transport a cargo container to the port of Mombasa compared to US$2,055 paid by a Kenyan. Meanwhile, a Ugandan exporter and Burundian pay US$2,880, and US$2,965 respectively, while a Tanzanian parts with US$1,255, according to the 2012 Doing Business in the East African Community report. Kanimba said the government is also considering opening up a cargo centre to airlift the country’s exports at once in order to ease costs.“We want to intermediate all products that are supposed to be exported and how much it costs, then we approach airlines to provide cargo space for these products,” the Minister saidThe foray into the Gabonese market is a boon for the country’s exporters.“We registered more than double sales we were expecting and we were able to beat products from Cameroon and France which are sold on the Gabonese market because of the high quality of our products,” said Norce Elisie Gatarayiha of NORELGA Macadamia Ltd. Over 35 Rwandan companies showcased a variety of products ranging from fresh products such as meat, fruits, vegetables, milk, juice, coffee, tea, macadamia nuts, processed cassava, maize flour and banana wine.

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Multi-service centres to ease export costs