You would expect to find him bubbly and dusting his suit to attend a manufacturing industry sales party, now that the Covid-19 pandemic has taken away the cheap imports nightmare that has hurt the sector for decades.

But after the lockdowns in Uganda and Rwanda and the customers stopped orders due to the uncertainty that came with the cessation of movement, our sales dropped by about 40 per cent," Mr Rao says.

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Last week, the beer manufacturer -- the largest in the -- gave a peek into what is really happening from a sales perspective after it issued a profit warning, which means that it expects its profits to shrink by at least one quarter in its current financial year.

"Consequently, the Board of Directors of the Company hereby informs its shareholders and the general public that EABL's current performance forecast, indicates a decline in profit after tax of approximately 25 per cent for the financial year ending June 30, 2020 in comparison to the previous," the company said in a public notice signed by its chairperson, Mr Martin Oduor-Otieno, in a press statement over the weekend.

A survey by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) in the first quarter of this year revealed that 77.97 per cent of its members source their inputs or export to China.

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