Tanzania leapfrogs Uganda in informal trade with Kenya as food shortages bite
Traders in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Tanzania’s rise was driven almost entirely by an increase in goods entering Kenya, with informal imports more than doubling from $426,386 in December 2024 to $974,818 in June 2025.
Business and Technology Reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
Nation Media Group
Tanzania emerged as Kenya’s second-largest informal trading partner in June 2025, overtaking Uganda and Somalia as food and livestock inflows from the southern neighbour surged to help meet demand amid domestic supply pressures.
Informal trade between Kenya and Tanzania rose 62 percent to an estimated $1.28 million in June from $786,343 in December 2024, according to a new survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
