Uganda to petition EAC over ban on milk exports to Kenya

Uganda will present a petition before the East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat next month as it seeks negotiation against a number of trade blockades ban on milk exports to Kenya, according to a media report by Daily Monitor.

Uganda and Kenya are having a dispute over milk exports from three months and Kenya last week announced that it would not allow milk from Uganda on its market.

Dicksons Kateshumbwa, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) outgoing commissioner for customs, said that Uganda will petition the EAC on the matter during the regional pre-budget meeting scheduled in Arusha, Tanzania next month.

"We shall discuss this matter when we go to Arusha for pre-budget meetings next month so that we get an official stand," Kateshumbwa said.

He also said that in the last three months, the trade war cost Uganda close to Shs60b in milk exports.

According to available data, Uganda was exporting almost 450,000 liters of milk to Kenya before the dispute.

Kenya has remained silent so far on why it is blocking Uganda's milk from its market but unofficial comments pointing to the need to protect the country's milk industry from "cheap" products offered by the external competition.

The escalating trade dispute between Kenya and Uganda over milk exports is just one of many facing all EAC partner states and underlines critical gaps in the regional integration project that could potentially harm the economies.