Several African countries have good potential to develop their furniture industry, both for expanding internal consumption and for export markets. Total furniture consumption in Africa is expected to rise 2.4% in real terms during 2020 and significant consumption growth is expected longer term.
These are key conclusions of the latest edition of the Africa Furniture Outlook report by CSIL, the furniture research organisation based in Milan, Italy.
According to CSIL, Africa has a total household consumption of US$1,400 billion with 1.13 billion inhabitants and per capita GNP of about US$ 1,700. Consumer demand has grown rapidly in the last decade thanks to an increase of the real income.
With 16% of the world's total population, Africa accounts for only 3% of world GDP but, according to IMF projections, per capita GDP between 2019 and 2023 will grow faster in Africa than in all other world regions except Asia.
CSIL estimated that apparent furniture consumption in Africa (at production or import prices, excluding retail mark-up) was US$9.8 billion in 2017, which is $8 per capita and represents just 2% of total global furniture consumption.
The main furniture consumer markets in Africa, all with consumption exceeding US$500 million in 2017, are South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan. North Africa, West Africa and South Africa are the main consuming regions, showing the highest per capita furniture consumption. CSIL note that Africa has 59 metropolitan areas with population in excess of 1 million.
Despite political instability and relatively poor infrastructure, these urban centres are expanding, with diversifying economies, and have significant potential as growth markets for furniture. In some areas, large investments are being made in real estate and tourism while the hospitality, cultural and entertainment sectors are all boosting demand for furniture.
CSIL report that total furniture imports in Africa (including both internal African trade and imports from outside the region) were worth about US$3 billion in 2017. About 32% of furniture consumed in Africa is imported from outside the region and 68% is manufactured internally.
About 45% of imports from outside the region come from China, followed at a distance by Italy and Turkey.
Most imports from outside the region are destined for Southern and Northern Africa. South Africa is the largest furniture importer in the Southern region, importing mainly from China, Germany, and Italy. In North Africa the largest furniture importer is Morocco (which imports mostly from China, Spain, France and Italy), followed by Algeria, Egypt and Libya.
In 2017, total Africa furniture production was US$ 7.5 billion in 2017, and only 10% of furniture manufactured in Africa was exported, the main exporting countries being Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Tunisia.
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