- Rwanda’s agricultural export revenues from January to December 2021 has recorded a growth of 39 percent.
- The country earned over $543 million compared to $390 million in the same period in 2020 according to the latest data released by the National Agricultural Export Development Board Report.
Rwanda’s agricultural export revenues from January to December 2021 has recorded a growth of 39 percent. The country earned over $543 million compared to $390 million of the same period in 2020 according to the latest data released by the National Agricultural Export Development Board Report.
The growth in export reflected the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the resumption of economic activities of Rwanda. Transport of people and movement of goods in the region and abroad picked up after the markets opened up as the restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic eased compared to 2020.
The report indicated that exports of tea, coffee, flowers, fruits and vegetable unit prices were showing upward trends, leading to better export performance. Export revenue from tea showed an increase by7 per cent in 2021 attributed to the 8 per cent growth in tea export volumes. Coffee revenues showed a growth of 42 percent in the January-December 2021 period due to the better volume and market price for coffee. Revenue of Diary exports rose by 40.4 percent to $5 million from $3.6 million in spite of a drop of 18.8 percent in terms of volumes. Rwanda’s dairy products have expanded to new markets like Gabon and the Central African Republic. Fruit exports also generated $9.9 million registering 44.6 percent growth, while overall volumes went down by 27.4 percent. Flower exports also performed well generating $8.8 million, against $5.5 million in 2020.
Rwanda targets to double the current output by the sector by 2024 to generate $1 billion annually. Achieving that will require increasing exports of emerging crops such as cereals and horticulture, meat, dairy and poultry products, as well as maintaining steady growth in traditional exports crops which are coffee, tea and pyrethrum.
