The east African economies consume US $1.2 billion worth of furniture annually, of which 22 percent is imported. Since growth is driven by growing urban populations and purchasing power, growth prospects are favourable, and Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda are likely to remain the dominant furniture markets.
Kenya is the largest market for furniture in east Africa. It is also the largest producer of furniture manufacturing twice as much as Ethiopia, the next biggest market.
Kenya is a Largest market for Particle board, Gypsum board, MDF board & Plywood. The demand of furniture has been growing some 10% per year. Kenya and East Africa has a very big market for laminate products.
In Kenya plywood mills consume 15 percent of industrial wood available for furniture, and they produce plywood, MDF, particle board, block board, and veneer. These mills sell predominantly to the formal industry and use pine and cypress as raw material, with knots and timber structure limiting the visual quality of plywood.
Kenya emerged the third most preferred real estate investment destination globally for the super-rich after the UK and US in a study that also shows that nearly a quarter of Africa’s rich have property locally.
Important aspect of Kenya’s wood processing sector are wood carvings, which is estimated to utilize 600 tonnes of wood annually. The last five years has seen tremendous growth in the wood flooring sector as many move from the conventional tiles to wood blocks.
There is growing optimism in the future performance of the wood coatings market as Kenya revives the stalled plans for the construction of two million additional housing units across the country’s urban areas with first 500,000 housing units.
The industry produces approximately Kshs 4.5 billion of furniture per year and exports Kshs 0.2 billion. The sector contributes about 5% to the country’s GDP.