# The khat trade: how much Somalia spends on imported khat > Facts and figures on Somalia's khat imports from Kenya and Ethiopia: the value, the daily tonnes, the taxes it pays, the 2020 ban and the price jumps, with sources. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/economy/khat-trade/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## The short version Khat (qaad or jaad) is a leaf that is chewed as a mild stimulant. Almost all of it is grown in Kenya and Ethiopia and flown or driven into Somalia fresh each day. It is one of the country's largest imports and one of the government's largest single sources of customs duty. ## How much Somalia spends - **2025: $450.4 million** of khat imports, according to the National Economic Council's *State of the Economy Report 2026*, which uses Central Bank data. That is more than the **$404.3 million** of federal domestic revenue in 2025, and almost half of the $922.9 million earned from livestock exports ([Dawan Africa, 27 October 2026](https://www.dawan.africa/news/somalia-spent-dollar4504m-on-khat-imports-in-2025-more-than-domestic-revenue)). - Food was the largest import, at **$2.4 billion** (same source). See [Trade: exports and imports](/en/economy/trade-exports-and-imports/). ## Where it comes from - **Kenya (miraa):** Kenya's agriculture minister told parliament in December 2025 that Kenya sends **13 to 17 tonnes** of miraa to Somalia every day. Somalia takes **80 to 90 percent** of Kenya's miraa trade, and more than 17 million kilograms had been sent since the market reopened in July 2022 ([Dawan Africa](https://www.dawan.africa/news/somalia-spent-dollar4504m-on-khat-imports-in-2025-more-than-domestic-revenue)). - **Ethiopia (hareeri):** Ethiopia's official khat exports to Somalia fell to **2,580 tonnes** in the first quarter of its 2025/26 financial year, down 35 percent on a year earlier (same source). In 2022 Somalia accounted for close to 80 percent of Ethiopia's khat export earnings ([Addis Fortune, 17 July 2022](https://addisfortune.news/?p=24358)). ## The taxes it pays - In 2019 khat taxes at Mogadishu airport raised **$16.6 million**, about 5 percent of federal revenue ([Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, Risk Bulletin 9, 2020](https://riskbulletins.globalinitiative.net/esa-obs-009/02-somalias-khat-ban-has-led-to-the-emergence-of-a-contraband-industry.html)). - In [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/), khat taxes made up roughly **30 percent** of government revenue, about $35 million a year (same source). - Mogadishu's city government also charges its own excise on the khat trade ([Somali Public Agenda, 2025](https://somalipublicagenda.org/examining-benadir-regional-administration-bra/)). See [Mogadishu's economy](/en/economy/mogadishu-economy/). ## Bans and price jumps **2020.** On 18 March 2020 the federal government stopped international flights and halted khat imports because of COVID-19. Before the ban about 50 tonnes of miraa reached Mogadishu daily, worth roughly $1 million at retail. Miraa that sold for **$20 to $25 a kilo** jumped to **$300 a kilo** in early April, then settled at $80 to $120 by June. Smuggling grew by road through Beledweyne, by sea to Kismayo and Mogadishu, and on small aircraft. Kenyan-registered aircraft carrying COVID-19 supplies were found with hidden khat at least three times. On 26 May 2020 a Silverstone Air Services flight delivered khat to Jowhar; the convoy carrying it onward hit a roadside bomb and nine soldiers were killed. Silverstone and Buff Air Services had their licences suspended on 1 June 2020 ([Global Initiative, 2020](https://riskbulletins.globalinitiative.net/esa-obs-009/02-somalias-khat-ban-has-led-to-the-emergence-of-a-contraband-industry.html)). Somaliland and [Puntland](/en/states/puntland/) lifted their bans before Eid in May 2020 ([Global Initiative, 2020](https://riskbulletins.globalinitiative.net/esa-obs-009/02-somalias-khat-ban-has-led-to-the-emergence-of-a-contraband-industry.html)). **Trade with Kenya.** Before the pause, Kenya sent close to 55,000 tonnes a year to Somalia, worth about $50 million at export prices. No Kenyan shipments reached Somalia from 2020 until a deal agreed during the President's visit to Kenya in 2022. In Ethiopia in 2022, at least 830 khat exporters lost their licences over suspected over-invoicing, and a plan to double the minimum export price for khat sent to Somalia to $10 a kilo was reversed back to $5 ([Addis Fortune, 2022](https://addisfortune.news/?p=24358)). In 2024 Somalia halted Ethiopian imports during tensions between the two countries ([Dawan Africa](https://www.dawan.africa/news/somalia-spent-dollar4504m-on-khat-imports-in-2025-more-than-domestic-revenue)). ## Who chews In the 2022 national household survey, **2.5 percent** of adults said they chew khat: 5.3 percent of men and almost no women ([Somali National Bureau of Statistics, SIHBS 2022](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SOMALIA-INTEGRATED-HOUSEHOLD-BUDGET-SURVEY.pdf), Table 4.8). For what khat does to health and daily life, see [Khat (qaad) in Somalia](/en/society/khat/). ## Sources disagree - **Value of imports.** The $450.4 million figure for 2025 is far above an estimate by the writer Mohamed Mukhtar Ibrahim of **$131 million to $171 million a year**. He took Kenya's 13 to 17 tonnes a day at $28 a kilo on arrival in Mogadishu; at the retail price of $40 a kilo the total is $187 million to $245 million ([WardheerNews, 12 January 2026](https://wardheernews.com/the-economic-cost-of-khat-mira-to-somalia/)). His estimate leaves out Ethiopian khat. The $450.4 million figure is taken from press reports of the National Economic Council report ([Dawan Africa](https://www.dawan.africa/news/somalia-spent-dollar4504m-on-khat-imports-in-2025-more-than-domestic-revenue)). --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.