Kamukunji traders feel the sting of coronavirus

A gust of wind sweeps through the deserted corridors of a shopping complex in Nairobi’s Kamukunji market, the resultant howl eerie and lonely.

In normal times, Kamukunji is a beehive of activity with customers jostling in the narrow corridors and traders processing orders at the speed of light.

Handcarts crisscross alleys with military dexterity, barely missing each other. Above the din, the voice of the muezzin thunders out from the spires of a nearby mosque.

But we are barely in normal times.

Kenya is emerging from a year that saw many businesses bedridden and others die as the economy floundered, and Kamukunji is feeling the sting of the economic prick.

Any regular at the market will immediately note the sharp drop in the number of customers occupying the little corridors between shops.

And just when the traders thought fortunes might change for the better came another scare: the emergence of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in China, their chief source of goods.

Panic spread throughout China and quarantining began. Measures such as euthanising of infected people were mooted. Business pace slowed down.

Already, there is disquiet on the back of a Chinese airline flying 239 passengers into Kenya, with the feeling that the virus may be getting closer home if it has not already found its way in.

Bleak future

Michael Theuri sits pensively outside his Kamukunji shop, contemplating the future. The last few months have been anything but promising and the near future may be bleak if the coronavirus issue escalates.

“We suffered towards the end of last year and this year has not been any better. And now we fear there might even be more trouble ahead if the coronavirus is not checked,” he says, somberly.

His sentiments are shared by his colleagues in the market. Their stock, in spite of reduced sales, will soon be depleted if no new goods are shipped in from China. Perhaps they will close shop.

Theuri says around 90 per cent of his stock is shipped in from China, with the rest sourced from India and local markets. China is Kenya’s chief supplier of both new and second-hand textiles.

Kamukunji, Nairobi’s main wholesale and retail market for textiles, cosmetics and electronics, rode the turbulence in 2019 but seems to be in for a ruder shock in 2020.

Shops seem to carry stock worth millions, but there are hardly any shoppers at the moment.

Theuri deals in beauty products which, thankfully, are not seasonal and so he is in business throughout the year. But 2019 was difficult for him too.

“Usually, during the rainy season, we all run out of supply of shower caps. However, last year, even as the rains fell for months we did not deplete our shower cap stocks. People have no money. It is hurting our business,” he says.

The trader says they are behind on rent and salary payments. And now that Chinese ports are in lockdown and manufacturers unable to start their mills, the Kenyan market is feeling the heat.

Why is China so critical, I ask.

“China offers a wide variety (of goods) with very high quality. In addition to that, their prices are low,” says Phillip Kahama, a retailer at Kamukunji.

“You deduct the shipping costs and import levies and you still make bigger profits than you would buying from local manufacturers.”

The Chinese New Year festivities peaked on January 25. The last shipment from China, therefore, was dispatched before the onset of the festivities, on the 15th.

A shipment takes around three weeks to reach the Kenyan coast and after what the traders term excessive bureaucracy by the port authorities, it takes another 30 days to reach their Nairobi depots.

The Yiwu Futian Market, from which the traders order for most goods, is approximately 150km from Wuhan, the sprawling capital of Central China’s Hubei province. It is closed, with the expected date of opening that was to be February 21 again postponed.

Kenya Revenue Authority declined to disclose how the virus outbreak had affected revenues, only noting that many economies across the globe have felt the sting.

Already, there are 81,406 reported cases of coronavirus around the world with at least 2,800 people dead.

Nothing to sell

February is gone and there is still nothing positive from the East. As it stands, the traders are not making new orders as the distributors in China have nothing to sell because most factories are yet to open.

It is only those who had made orders prior to the festivities who have been receiving their cargo, which was in the high seas when the coronavirus tragedy started.

“As demand rises and supply gets limited, the prices are bound to (shoot up). I do not know if customers will manage because the economy doesn’t seem to be improving,” says Koome Mutea, a trader, bemoaning the low liquidity he feels is hampering customers’ ability to buy.

Kamukunji, with its deep ties to China, will have to wait and hope that the pandemic eases out fast so that markets can return to normal.