The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has launched the Kenya EU Export Catalogue 2026, a directory that lists Kenyan products and suppliers for buyers in the European Union. KAM produced it with the State Department for Trade, the State Department for Foreign Affairs and Danish Industries East Africa.
The 20 page document covers 12 manufacturing sectors, flowers, fresh produce, fish and fishery products, and 15 service categories. It also lists contacts for trade bodies and government agencies. Officials at the launch asked why Kenya sells a small share of its exports to the EU when the Kenya EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) has removed tariffs and quotas since July 2024.
What the catalogue covers
Manufactured goods span food and beverages, leather and footwear, textiles and apparel, chemicals, timber and furniture, steel, plastics, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, automotive, electrical products, building materials and paper. Flowers take pages 8 and 9, with roses, carnations, gypsophila, chrysanthemums, summer flowers and bouquets.
Fresh produce covers avocados, mangoes, French beans, snow peas, herbs, spices and nuts. Fish and fishery products including dried fish, fillets, crustaceans and marine aquarium species. Services from legal and accounting work to data centres.
The catalogue targets a market of 27 member states, more than 450 million consumers and a GDP above €18.8 trillion, according to the launch statement. The foreword by KAM chief executive Tobias Alando puts the population at about 449 million.
The EPA sets the terms
The EPA entered into force on 1 July 2024. It gives Kenyan goods duty free and quota free entry to the EU, and the European Commission lists arms as the exception. The agreement also phases in lower tariffs on EU goods entering Kenya.
Principal Secretary Regina Ombam of the State Department for Trade wrote in her foreword that the access gives Kenyan firms room “to expand production, diversify export markets, increase value addition and participate more effectively in regional and global value chains.”
She added that realising it “calls for strong connections between Kenyan producers and European buyers.”
What Kenya’s statistics show
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) records exports to the EU at KSh 166.8 billion in 2025, up from KSh 156.9 billion in 2024. At the bureau’s average exchange rates, that is about $1.29 billion for 2025 and $1.16 billion for 2024. The 2025 figures are provisional.
KNBS records imports from the EU at KSh 249.7 billion in 2024, which converts to about $1.85 billion, so the statement figure may reflect imports.
On KNBS data, EU destinations took about 14.1% of Kenya’s total exports in 2024 and about 14.9% in 2025. All of Europe, including the UK and Switzerland, took about 22% and 24% in those years. These shares are calculations by this desk.
KNBS attributes export growth to the EU in 2025 to vegetable oils sold to Italy, coffee sold to Belgium and France, and coffee and macadamia nuts sold to Germany. The 2026 quarterly reports show the trend continuing. Exports to Europe rose 6% to KSh 72.1 billion in the first quarter of 2026, on demand from the Netherlands and the UK.
Officials say access has not produced volume
Dr Michael Mandu, Secretary at the State Department for Trade, spoke for Ombam. He asked stakeholders to explain why Kenya holds a small share of EU imports.
“If Kenya is currently capturing only 10% of the European Union’s import market on flowers alone, we must ask ourselves what it will take to unlock the remaining 90% of the opportunity,” Mandu said. He added that “preferential market access alone will not guarantee increased exports.”
He called for a strategy that selects products with market potential, builds the competitiveness of local firms and promotes value addition.
The catalogue carries a different flower figure. It states that 40% of flowers imported into the EU come from Kenya. KNBS cannot settle the difference because it records Kenya’s sales and not EU import totals. The Kenya Flower Council has said separately that the EU takes nearly 70% of Kenya’s flower exports, which measures the share of Kenyan output.
Flower earnings keep rising
KNBS data shows Kenyan flower sales growing through 2025 and 2026. Horticulture exports reached KSh 216.5 billion in 2025 against KSh 203.6 billion in 2024, a rise of about 6.3%. In the third quarter of 2025, exports to Europe rose 5.2% to KSh 60.8 billion, with cut flowers and macadamia nuts behind the growth in sales to the Netherlands.
In the first quarter of 2026, cut flower earnings rose to KSh 33.2 billion from KSh 29.2 billion. Cut flower earnings for the six months to June 2026 rose 5.5% to KSh 49.7 billion. Monthly data shows volatility. Cut flower volumes fell from 12.1 thousand tonnes in May 2026 to 9.8 thousand tonnes in June, and earnings fell from KSh 8.1 billion to KSh 6.6 billion.
Khusoko reported in 2020 that the Kenya Flower Council said Kenya exports over 180,000 tonnes of flowers a year, mainly to the UK and Europe, in its report on flower exports during the pandemic.
Diplomats offer market intelligence
Evans Maturu, a director at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, spoke for Principal Secretary Dr Korir Sing’Oei. He said Kenya’s missions will back the EPA with market data and buyer introductions.
“The EU is a highly stringent market, and our businesses must be adequately prepared to meet its standards and requirements,” Maturu said. He said trade attachés in European capitals would identify opportunities and connect Kenyan firms with buyers.
Sing’Oei wrote that the EPA “seeks to transform trade relations into a broader partnership that supports economic development, industrial growth and improved livelihoods.” He said the catalogue should give Kenya’s embassies and trade attachés product descriptions, specifications, quality standards, packaging, minimum order quantities, indicative prices and contact details. The catalogue directory notes that the Embassy of Kenya in Brussels, accredited to the EU, supports exporters.
Manufacturers name the cost barriers
KAM Board Chairperson Hitesh Mediratta listed the constraints that hold back exports: the high cost of production, expensive and unreliable energy, inefficient transport and logistics, complex regulatory processes and the cost of meeting international standards.
“Market access alone is not enough,” Mediratta said. He said KAM works with government and development partners on policy, market intelligence, certification and training, and runs trade missions that link manufacturers with buyers.
KAM’s Logistics Study Report warned that open markets mean little if the systems that connect firms to them cannot keep pace. Alando said at that launch that logistics costs now outweigh tariff gains in many cases.
“Every new order can help a business expand, support jobs, develop skills and create opportunities for the communities connected to production.”
Danish industry backs buyer links
Erik Thomas Johnson, General Manager of Danish Industries East Africa Emerging Markets, said the catalogue gives European buyers a place to find Kenyan suppliers.
“Stronger connections between businesses are essential to building reliable supply chains, diversifying sourcing options and creating long term commercial partnerships,” Johnson said. His foreword adds that “turning market access into actual trade requires more than an agreement.”
Compliance and supply claims
For fresh produce, the catalogue lists GLOBALG.A.P. certification, phytosanitary inspection by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), hot water treatment for mangoes bound for the EU, carbon footprint reporting and a traceability system run by the Horticultural Crops Directorate. Flower growers follow the Kenya Flower Council’s Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standard. Exporters share certificates with buyers on request.
The compilers state that flights from Nairobi to most EU capitals take about nine hours and that Nairobi sits within two hours of most European time zones. They say Kenya generates 90% of its electricity from renewable sources and that Mombasa and Lamu serve as sea freight gateways. The catalogue tells buyers to confirm standards and certifications with each supplier.
Mandu set the test for the next phase: “Our focus must now be on turning this access into tangible results through increased exports, stronger business partnerships and greater participation by Kenyan enterprises in the European market.”
