October 15, 2009
East Africa's grain trade bruised by high prices
High grain prices and informal cross border trade restricted grain trading volumes in East Africa, said a regional industry monitor.
The drop in volumes of grains traded across the borders might be caused by unseasonably high prices of grains this year, the Regional Market Intelligence (RATIN) said.
Cross border statistics by RATIN indicate that the September soy volume fell to 14,277 tonnes from 19,732 tonnes in August.
The flow of soy in the region has been dominated by Uganda, which has exported 101,131 tonnes to Kenya since January.
At the same time, volumes of corn traded this September was 79-percent lower compared to September last year, a trend the regional monitor blames on the skyrocketing prices mainly due to the prevailing drought that has restricted production.
In the same category was rice that recorded a 19-percent drop in volumes traded than the September 2008 levels.
However, on the average RATIN observes that the cumulative volume of informal trade in corn and soy commodities for January to September 2009 is significantly higher compared to the same time last year.
During the period under review, a total corn tonnage of 226,555 tonnes was traded between January and September 2009 compared to 159,476 tonnes in the same period last year, denoting a 42-percent increase.
Similarly the total traded soy volume in the same period 2009 rose to 108,040 tonnes from last year's 56,484 tonnes.
