The One-Cow-per-Family program under which the extremely poor get free cows has led to massive milk production (Photo by Andy Kristian)
For the first time milk and its by-products has overtaken coffee and all other previous major exports to become Rwanda’s main export, data from the institute of statistics shows.
For the period October-December 2013, milk and cream not containing sugar brought in $22.4m (Rwf16bn) revenue, according to the Rwanda external trade statistics reported just released. Minerals including Niobium, vanadium ores, tantalum and concentrates – were the next biggest earners of forex.
Niobium is one of the largest components needed in making steel, as well as vanadium ores. Tantalum is used for several products including electrical cables, surface acoustic wave filters, devices used in cell phones and televisions to improve audio quality. Concentrates is the source of food preservatives. All these minerals earned $21.6m in the three months.
Coffee which had for some time maintained its position as the country’s biggest revenue source came in at a distant third in the same quarter of last year. In the same quarter of 2012; exports of Coffee (not roasted, not decaffeinated) ranked first with (US$ 25.48 million).
So what is going on in the milk sector that has caused such expansion? In 2012 and before the “farm gate” value of milk was around Rwf 79.7 billion (US$129.70 million). The dairy subsector contributed 15 percent to agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) and 6 percent to gross domestic product (GDP).
In Rwanda, studies show that milk supply grows at the same pace as demand, but less than 50% reaches the market of any form, with the price of raw milk being 1/3 of processed milk. A national diary strategy was developed in 2011 by government that has seen cattle ownership and milk production explode in a single year.
Meanwhile, for imports, cement (US$ 17.68 million), telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless (US$ 14.53 million) were the major imports into Rwanda during the fourth quarter of 2013. In the same quarter of 2012; other Portland cement imports ranked first with (US$ 18.39 million).
The main re-exports of Rwanda in the fourth quarter of 2013 were motor spirit (gasoline) (US$ 6.25 million), Gas oil (automotive, light, amber for high speed engines) (US$ 6.02 million),
6.25 million), Gas oil (automotive, light, amber for high speed engines) (US$ 6.02 million), exports ranked first with US$ 5.72 million.
In the fourth quarter, 2013, Rwanda’s total trade of US$ 564.6 million was made up of imports of US$ 415.5 million, exports of US$ 121.5 million, and re-exports of US$ 27.6 million. On the imports side, Rwanda registered 9.77 percent increase in current price terms in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter of 2012.