Archive d’étiquettes pour : industries

Slide of the month (SOTM) September. Consumer goods distributors in Ethiopia

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The impressive growth of Ethiopia over the past decade has put the country on the map in the consumer goods business. In this project, africon identified and recommended potential distribution partners for the client locally. After meeting approximately 20 consumer goods distributors, africon rated and ranked the firms according to key performance indicators previously agreed upon with our client.

Even though East Africa Holding did not make it to the shortlist of the most interesting potential partners, africon was impressed by the company’s strong local networks and standing in the market. Its focus on own manufactured goods provide a strong asset in times of Ethiopia’s forex crisis – even though it (at least presently) reduces the company’s priority on imported foreign brands.

If you would like to know more about consumer goods and FCMG in Ethiopia or other parts in Africa, do not hesitate to get in touch with our team.

Slide of the month (SOTM) August. Real estate projects in South Africa

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The real estate industry in South Africa has been growing steadily in the last few years. Looking at the industry’s three main segments, i.e. residential, commercial, and additions/alterations, it is apparent that South Africa´s residential developments have increased the most in value, at a growth rate of 11.37% between 2015 and 2018. Similarly, additions and alterations have increased at a growth rate of 7.92% in the same period. The growth in these two segments can be accredited to the country’s growing urban population.

Although commercial projects are the second largest in South Africa’s real estate industry, there has been a decline between 2017 and 2018. Commercial projects increased in value from 1.15 billion USD in 2015 to 1.8 billion USD in 2017 and declined to 1.3 billion USD in the year 2018, making this the slowest growing segment in the last few years. The main reason for this decline is the current economic performance of the country which is currently quite low after recovering from a recession in the year 2017.

For more questions and comments, do not hesitate to contact us.

Slide of the month (SOTM) July. Africa’s top imports in 2018

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There are numerous business opportunities and potentials that exist in Africa which companies can take advantage of. With our sole focus on the continent, we have looked into the African markets to see what sort of products are mostly imported in each market. For the past year 2018 we were able to come up with the following findings.

Over the last five years, Africa has been recording trade deficits. Data trends show that imports to and exports from Africa started increasing in 2017 after a decline in 2015. China, France, USA, Germany, and India have remained Africa’s top export partners over these years.

In 2018, Africa’s total imports were worth approximately 549 billion USD. The largest imported product (using the 4-digit category) was petroleum and mineral oils which was valued at approximately 60 billion USD – that is 11% of Africa’s total imports in that year.

The other top products imported by Africa are: Motor cars for persons (worth 17 billion USD), medicaments (worth 11.4 billion USD), telephone sets (worth 11.2 billion USD), wheat (worth 10.6 billion USD), motor vehicles for the transport of goods (worth 6.3 billion USD), rice (worth 6.3 billion USD), and parts & accessories for motor vehicles (worth 6.1 billion USD).

The largest importers on the continent are: South Africa (imports worth 93 billion USD i.e. 17% of Africa’s total imports), Egypt (imports worth 81 billion USD i.e. 14.8% of Africa’s total imports), Morocco (imports worth 51 billion USD i.e. 9.3% of Africa’s total imports), Algeria (imports worth 47 billion USD i.e. 8.6% of Africa’s total imports), Nigeria (imports worth 36 billion USD i.e. 6.6% of Africa’s total imports), Tunisia (imports worth 20 billion USD i.e. 3.7% of Africa’s total imports), Kenya (imports worth 16 billion USD i.e. 2.9% of Africa’s total imports) and Ghana (imports worth 12 billion USD i.e. 2.2% of Africa’s total imports).

In South Africa, the top three import categories excluding petroleum and mineral oils are: Motor cars, telephone sets, and medicaments. For Egypt, they are: Motor cars, wheat and meslin, and telephone sets. Nigeria’s other top imports are: Light-vessels fire-floats etc, wheat and meslin, and motor cars, while in Kenya, the other top imports are: Motor cars, medicaments, and flat iron.

Slide of the month (SOTM) June. Plastic film imports in Nigeria

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The growth of plastic film imports over the past ten years is a demonstration of the increased adoption of plastic film packaging in Nigeria. Along with the growth in usage of plastic films comes a vast variety of opportunities related products and services – from raw materials to mechanical engineering. 

Polyethylene (PE) film is by far the most popular plastic film material used in Nigeria due to its versatility and wide areas of application. 

If you would like to know more about the plastic film industry in Nigeria, how to access this market, or who the right local partners and  customers are, do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Slide of the month (SOTM) May. The aftermarket for commercial vehicles in South Africa

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Being Africa´s most developed country, the automotive aftermarket in South Africa presents itself with its unique profile, own challenges and opportunities: South Africa is one of the very few African countries with a relatively strong base of local automotive parts manufacturers. A vast variety of international brands have long set up shop, some established their own offices and warehouses. The local motor vehicle fleet of more than ten million is one of Africa´s biggest but has recently only grown very slowly. Together with a sluggish economy, the parts market has become relatively competitive with firms fighting hard for market shares.

The already existing volumes, together with a market that – in a global comparison – still has space for significant growth, open interesting opportunities for international firms.

Get in touch if you would like to know more about opportunities in Africa´s automotive aftermarkets!

Slide of the month (SOTM) April. Ghana’s aluminium fabrication market

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The overall market for aluminium profiles in Ghana is split into three price/quality segments: Firstly, premium profiles are used in large high rise and complex construction projects, which are shaping the skylines of Accra and other cities in Ghana. This segment represents around 19% of the total market volume and is served by so called “International Fabricators” and “Niche Fabricators”. On the opposite side of the spectrum, “Retail Fabricators” serve around 50% of the market demand with relatively lower price/quality profiles. These profiles are used in common housing construction and for smaller commercial buildings. In between these two segments is the medium price/quality segment, which represents around 31% of the market. Profiles in this segment are used in a variety of residential and commercial construction projects.

Overall, the aluminium profiles market in Ghana has a pyramid shape, with a large budget and a relatively smaller but still significant premium segment. As for other building materials, especially the premium segment holds interesting opportunities for firms from Europe and elsewhere.

If you would like to know more about how your market in Ghana looks, how to access this market, who the right local partners and the customers are, do not hesitate to get in touch.

africon and Wolk After Sales Experts join forces for Africa

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We are proud to announce that africon GmbH and Wolk After Sales Experts are joining forces for Africa.

Both German consulting companies are leaders in their respective fields, namely global automotive after sales industry and African business environment. Together Wolk and africon will be able to provide clients with comprehensive information and consulting support across the continent.

Since the beginning of its operations in 1994 Wolk After Sales Experts has grown into a consulting powerhouse well known to both vehicle manufacturers and independent aftermarket operators. Thanks to carefully built network of partners across Europe, Wolk monitors automotive markets in 35 countries – from Portugal to Russia and from Norway to Turkey.

“In one world economy our clients need support not only in Europe, but on the other markets as well. Our cooperation with africon will allow us to include data from Sub-Saharan Africa into our AFTER SALES ACCESS aftermarket business intelligence tool. This will be a major asset for any automotive company aiming at creating or improving its distribution network in Africa” explains Zoran Nikolic, Managing Director at Wolk After Sales Experts.

africon GmbH, established in Germany in 2011, currently has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. The company employs a team consisting of 7 nationalities speaking more than 10 local languages while running a network of more than 50 consultants in the African region. Over the past 5 years africon conducted more than 20 automotive projects in Africa.

“The African automotive markets have been growing with more than 6% over the past years and offer great chances for global operating companies. After various independent aftermarket projects in Africa, africon could obtain significant data and know-how on African markets like Nigeria and Kenya which we are happy to offer to the excellent network of Wolk After Sales Experts” states Marc-Peter Zander, CEO & Partner at africon GmbH. Mr. Zander will be also a keynote speaker during upcoming Aftermarket Forum 2019: Going global! It is a top-level automotive industry event taking place on April 17th in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and organized by Wolk After Sales Experts. This year’s edition will focus on market snapshots of different regions of the world and Sub-Saharan Africa will be covered by the representative of africon.

In day-to-day business operations Wolk After Sales Experts and africon together will provide clients with exclusive market research, market intelligence and consulting projects in African countries.

Slide of the month (SOTM) March. Kenya’s construction and real estate sector

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africon GmbH was contracted by one of our clients and we successfully conducted a research on the aluminium industry in Kenya. We found out that the key drivers of this industry are the construction and real estate sectors in Kenya. Findings revealed that these sectors have experienced positive growth rates within the last five years and are expected to expand even further.

Kenya’s construction sector expanded by 8.6% and contributed approximately 6% to the country’s GDP in 2017. It is also one of the major sectors attracting foreign investors to the country. 

According to Deloitte’s construction trends report, Kenya has remained the leading country with the highest number of projects in East Africa for four consecutive years, with projects increasing by 78% from 23 projects in 2017 to 41 projects worth $38.2 billion in 2018. The major construction projects are in real estate, energy and power, and transport, sources also reveal that the Kenyan government is spending billions of dollars on transport projects as Kenya is expected to become the logistics hub of East Africa.

Challenges to this Kenya’s construction sector include: the frequent use of substandard materials, long procurement procedures, low project completion rates, and low technological knowledge. Despite these apparent challenges, continuous growth is expected in the sector as the Kenyan government plans to build 500,000 houses by 2022, and also to reduce corporate tax for developers who construct at least 400 units per year.

Kenya’s real estate sector is the 6th largest contributor to Kenya’s GDP, and was valued at $5.5 billion in 2017. The sector expanded by 6.1% in 2017 compared to 8.8% in 2016, and this slowed growth rate is due to the elections and reduced credit supply (as a result of capped interest rates). The construction of new private residential buildings in Nairobi increased from 9,054 in 2015 to 10,002 in 2016, while new public residential buildings rose from 45 in 2015 to 1,062 in 2016. Some of the challenges faced by Kenya’s real estate sector include inadequate sources of funding, high land costs, and infrastructure development costs. However, government initiatives such as digitization of the land ministry, removal of land search fees, and inclusion of affordable housing as part of Kenya’s big four agenda is likely to boost real estate development over the next few years

For more information, check out our other slides of the month and do not hesitate to contact us.

 

africon’s editorial publication in the ITA journal

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last October africon published its first editorial addressing the future of the Steel industry in East Africa at the 3rd journal edition of the International Tube Association. The article started by highlighting how East Africa distinguishes itself by economical growth and political stability in the region and being the least dependent on primary commodities such as gold or oil in comparison with other african regions. The East African region was projected to capture the highest regional economic growth over the past year in Africa. The article then went in depth to analyse those macro-economic factors and focused on the drivers of steel industry that promote economic growth in Africa and especially in East Africa.

Now you can read the full version of the editorial here or download it as a white paper

Download Whitepaper

Slide of the month (SOTM) February. Automotive parts imports in sub-Saharan Africa

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Automotive parts import Sub-Saharan Africa.

Let us look at the automotive market in sub-Saharan Africa narrowing down to the aggregate value of three main automotive service parts which are: Filters (consisting of air filters for internal combustion engines, as well as Oil or petrol filters for internal combustion engines), Spark plugs, and Brake parts. The total combined import value of these automotive parts in sub-Saharan Africa was $753 million in year 2017. Brake parts recorded the highest import value worth $388 million which is 52% of the total import value of the three selected automotive parts combined, while spark plugs were the least of the imports valued at $58 million.

Based on our analysis of the available data on automotive parts imports in sub-Saharan Africa, we found that South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, and Ghana were the top five importers of filters, spark plugs and brake plugs into sub-Saharan Africa in the year 2017. South Africa being the largest market, accounted for 47% of these automotive parts imports worth $355 million, while Ghana being the fifth largest market was worth $21 million.

The major export partners were China, Germany, South Africa, Belgium and USA. However, the data from year 2007 shows that Germany was the largest exporter of these automotive parts to the Sub Saharan Africa region until 2013 when China took over as the largest exporter to the region. Brake parts were also the largest exports (of the three parts) from China and Germany while Filters were the largest exports from South Africa, Belgium and USA.