Majority of Kenyans prefer to buy locally made goods, survey shows
Workers in a Nakuru cloth factory. High cost, unavailability cited as reasons for not buying local products. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
A poll conducted by GeoPoll shows 58 per cent of Kenyans prefer locally made products as opposed to 17 per cent who prefer imported goods, with the remainder saying they have no preference.
The poll flies in the face of popular perception that Kenyans prefer imports to locally made goods.
The majority of Kenyans prefer to buy locally manufactured goods as opposed to imports, a new survey by mobile phone-based pollster GeoPoll shows.
The January survey on spending habits and perceptions of the economy in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa found that 58 per cent of respondents in Kenya prefer locally made products as opposed to 17 per cent who prefer imported goods, with the remainder saying they have no preference.
The poll, which sampled 500 consumers in each country, flies in the face of popular perception that Kenyans prefer imports to locally made goods.
Of those surveyed, 47 per cent of shoppers in Nigeria said they would opt for local goods, while in South Africa the ratio was higher at 63 per cent.
“Products bought also differed by country. Kenyans were more likely to purchase food, while Nigerians and South Africans purchased clothes and cosmetics more often than Kenyans. In all countries, lack of availability and high cost of goods are the most cited reasons for consumers not buying local products,” said Geopoll.
South Africa has a more developed manufacturing sector than Kenya. A large volume of Kenya’s consumer goods imports come from South Africa, leading to a sizeable imbalance in trade between the two countries.
Kenya’s growing middle class has boosted the country’s consumer spending levels, leading to the opening of numerous shopping malls in major urban centres.
A recent survey by global logistics provider Agility shows that consumer spending by a fast-growing middle class is as important a growth driver in Africa as mineral and oil resources.
The Geopoll survey also found that over 75 per cent of Kenyan respondents are spending more this year compared to a year ago, and are also increasingly doing their buying in supermarkets and shopping malls compared to local kiosks and shops.
The findings of the Geopoll survey that Kenyans are in favour of local goods are however in contrast with the view of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), which last month claimed slow implementation of new procurement laws that favour purchase of local goods has kept appetite for such goods low.
Kenya’s procurement laws provide that all public entities should source at least 40 per cent of their inputs from the local market, with the KAM saying that the government’s failure to lead the way in adopting this rule is not helping local manufacturers.
The government on its part has a target to grow the share of manufacturing to 15 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) over the next five years from the current 11 per cent, with the growth expected to come from higher domestic consumption of locally made goods.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
