Discusses the distribution network within the country from how products enter to final destination, including reliability and condition of distribution mechanisms, major distribution centers, ports, etc.

Most products enter through the maritime ports of Matadi and Boma in Kongo Central province, N’djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Kasumbalesa customs post on the Zambian border, or through several entry points on the Rwandan and Ugandan borders.

After customs clearance, the importers move the products to their warehouses by truck, although some limited rail service is available in Matadi and Katanga province.  Importers sell their products either directly from the warehouse or move them to wholesale shops.

Wholesalers sell the products to retailers, whose shops may vary from Western-style buildings to open air markets.  Major distribution centers include Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Matadi, Mbuji-Mayi, Mbandaka, Kananga, Kikwit, Kisangani, Goma and Bukavu.  The DRC’s distribution system functions on both modern and traditional levels, but the 2008-09 economic crisis and the shift of economic activity into the informal sector blurred these distinctions.  Many firms, particularly Congolese, Lebanese, Indian and Pakistani, conduct at least part of their business through informal channels.  Smuggling, under-invoicing, and tax evasion are widespread.

Large trading firms that engage in a variety of commercial activities dominate most sectors.  The formal sector caters to the Congolese elite, the expatriate community, and small traders engaged in traditional commercial activities who buy wholesale from larger traders.  There are a growing number of small and medium-sized businesses that work with traditional merchants or serve DRC’s middle-and lower classes.  Often dynamic, but small and frequently inexperienced, these firms are generally unable to obtain credit, are often ignored by chambers of commerce, and increasingly look to cooperative credit associations for assistance.  Traditional commercial activities, such as operating small shops, continue to flourish, especially as unemployed former wage-earners turn to agriculture, commerce, and artisanal mining to make ends meet.

Most economic activity centers on the DRC’s major cities.  In the country’s interior, transportation can be difficult, expensive, and nearly impossible in the rainy season.  Hyperinflation and pillaging in the 1990s ruined many small businesses, and activity in rural areas was only slowly returning before the 2009 economic downturn.  The 2016 economic crisis has worsened the situation and the concomitant increase in the price of fuel, combined with the lack of appropriate roads and infrastructure in the country, has made the distribution of products beyond the major cities and ports increasingly difficult.
 

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