Traders in Kenya, have reported spent nearly 5.39 billion Kenyan Shillings on the importation of shoes and second-hand clothes in the first three months of 2019.
According to Business Daily Africa, official data shows, that the 5.39 billion Kenyan Shillings figure, is a growth of 366.30 million Kenyan Shillings from over a year prior.
The 7.29 percent growth is a sign of the elevated demand for imported shoes and second-hand clothes despite Kenya’s renewed focus on growing its domestic leather and textiles industries via the nation’s ‘Big Four’ plan.
The import bill for second-hand clothes, which are popularly known as mitumba, grew by 327.9 million Kenyan Shillings or 8.76 percent in the January to March period of 2019 to reach an astounding 4.07 billion Kenyan Shillings, compared with the 3.74 billion Kenyan Shillings bill from a similar period in 2018.
Figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show that this is a further growth compared to Sh3.28 billion recorded in 2017, the figures show.
The high quality and rather lower prices of mitumba continue to drive the demand for the such wares, at the expense of the locally made alternatives.
