KENYA – A five-day outage in the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) has disrupted operations at Mombasa Port, stranding tea consignments and causing significant financial losses.
Tea traders have estimated a loss of KES2.9 billion (US$23 million) over the past week due to the halted export processes. The outage has impacted 150 containers of tea scheduled for export.
The East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA), which oversees tea auction processes, has warned of escalating economic consequences if the issue persists.
EATTA Managing Director George Omuga noted that not only does this system failure impact immediate exports, but it could also damage the reputation of the Mombasa Tea Auction.
He highlighted that a potential blacklisting could ensue due to the auction’s failure to deliver purchased tea on schedule, possibly depressing tea prices that had recently shown signs of recovery.
“This consistent issue with the ICMS, along with the downtime in KRA’s export payment systems and failing port scanners, is creating container mapping challenges and causing major logistical setbacks,” Omuga stated.
He further cautioned that if the current issues are not promptly resolved, the association may be forced to suspend its weekly tea auctions, which would result in an additional KES3.2 billion (US$25 million) in weekly losses.
The KRA acknowledged the technical challenges impacting the iCMS, advising stakeholders to withhold document submissions until the system is restored.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and kindly request your patience as our technical team works to resume normal operations,” the KRA’s statement read.
Despite repeated meetings with KRA and other relevant organizations, EATTA claims that little progress has been made to prevent future breakdowns.
Omuga stressed the urgent need for an alternative or backup system to avoid repeated disruptions, particularly for the tea industry, which remains a key component of Kenya’s export economy.
This setback comes as the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) pursues a five-year strategy to diversify Kenya’s tea markets and reduce dependency on Pakistan and Egypt, currently the country’s top tea importers.
The TBK aims to target 13 emerging markets, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Saudi Arabia.
Recent TBK data shows Kenyan tea exports from July to September 2024 reached KES2.24 billion (US$17.4 million), with 155.09 million kilograms shipped, marking a significant increase from the same period the previous year.
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