Rwanda government has imposed ban on cement imported from Tanzania, this website has learnt.
Rwanda imports from Tanzania were US$224.54 Million during 2019, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.
According to United Nations COMTRADE data, Rwanda imported from Tanzania salt, sulphur, earth stone, plaster, lime and cement worth $ 48.38m in the year 2019.
Rwanda maintains single cement factory Cimerwa Cement Limited (CCL) a manufacturer which cannot satisfy the local market on top of high costs of production and poor quality products.
Cimerwa Cement Limited operates as a 51 percent subsidiary of Pretoria Portland Cement Company (PPC Limited), a South African cement-manufacturing conglomerate.
Last year, Rwanda banned Uganda’s cement imports claiming that it was found to have breached packaging control saying that each unit weighed below 50kg it was meant to be.
Subsequently, Kigali turned to Tanzania as an alternative for more products through Rusumo One-stop border post.
Goods made from Tanzania like Simba Cement and other Swahili branded products such as, Jambo, Safi, Habari and Konyagi liquor started flooding Kigali markets.
According to a source within Kigali establishment, Kagame has now changed his mind and is now turning to Kenya as the last resort for essential commodities.
It is not clear whether Kigali has also gone on wrong page with the nonsense Dodoma administration which is also a sworn sympathizer of Rwanda’s sworn enemy Burundi.
It is reported that Kigali has already approached Nairobi to provide other goods apart from cement which will be imported into the country through Uganda.
“They are still discussing no statement yet. But contracts have been given even truck drivers briefed that they will soon be using the northern corridor route”. Said a source.
Paul Kagame recently told the media in Kigali that the country’s trade has been hit and more seriously in Rwanda by corona virus as a landlocked country.
“We have no easy access to the sea and have to go through the Central Corridor through Dar or the Northern Corridor through Uganda and Mombasa. This means serious problems for us”.
He added “the main problem affecting Rwanda is through the Central Corridor. We’ve talked to our Tanzanian neighbors; so we’re ones really begging. But it’s going to be difficult to say ‘do this on my terms’. We’re put in a situation where we suffer for not doing it their way”.
“We are suffering a lot on our side, and almost reaching a point where it is like we are being blackmailed to do things the way our neighbors understand things”.
