Kenya paint market: 156,000 tonnes, Sh43.9bn, construction up 6.6%
Key points
- Basco Paints MD Kamlesh Shah said Kenyan paint consumption is growing at a double-digit pace, faster than GDP, on new builds and refinishing.
- KNBS: construction grew 6.6% in Q1 2026; the economy 5.3%. Construction grew 6.8% in 2025 after a 0.7% contraction in 2024.
- IndexBox: Kenya used about 156,000 tonnes of paints and varnishes in 2024 (Africa’s second after Algeria’s 168,000); produced 162,000 tonnes; market about Sh43.9 billion.
- World Bank trade data cited: Sh1.1 billion of water-based paints and varnishes exported in 2024. Shah flagged counterfeits and long plant payback.
One hundred and fifty-six thousand tonnes in 2024, a Sh43.9 billion home market, and builders finally buying again. That is the stack Basco Paints managing director Kamlesh Shah put under a double-digit consumption claim at the company’s 50th-anniversary dealer dinner, The Standard reported on 18 August 2026.
“Consumption is more than the GDP growth of the country. It’s more like double-digit consumption, and we are fortunate to be in line with that.” KNBS numbers in the same report: construction 6.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, the wider economy 5.3 per cent; construction had grown 6.8 per cent in 2025 after shrinking 0.7 per cent in 2024. Shah said paint also goes onto existing homes and offices, not only new slabs. IndexBox figures quoted: Kenya used about 156,000 tonnes in 2024, second in Africa after Algeria’s 168,000; Uganda about 86,000. Kenya was the largest African producer at about 162,000 tonnes (Algeria 152,000; Uganda 89,000). In value, Kenya’s market was put at KSh43.9 billion against Algeria’s about 42.3 billion and South Africa’s 16.1 billion. Africa as a whole used about 755,000 tonnes; Algeria, Kenya and Uganda more than half. Water-based paints and varnishes worth Sh1.1 billion were exported in 2024, per World Bank trade data cited. Shah said Basco makes some of its own packs and PVA resins, but still imports other inputs, so the shilling and commodity prices still bite. He said a plant does not pay back in three or four years, and that demand can double every six to seven years — which is why capacity has to be added on that cycle. He called counterfeit tins “a kind of cancer.” A dinner speech is not a KEBS raid list; the counterfeit claim still needs a seizure number.
A tonne count is not a clean tin
Sh43.9 billion with fakes on the informal shelf is a consumer-protection file. KEBS and ACA should publish 2025–26 paint seizures beside these IndexBox tonnes.
Business desk: Business. Verified 156,000/162,000 tonnes, Sh43.9bn, 6.6% Q1 and Sh1.1bn exports from The Standard / KNBS / IndexBox as cited.
KNBS should keep the quarterly construction print public. Basco and rivals should separate housing-levy jobs from ordinary refinishing in their next brief.
Buyers should check a KEBS mark; a familiar brand on a cheap tin is the risk Shah named.
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Based on The Standard’s 18 August report of Shah’s remarks and cited KNBS/IndexBox figures. Trade numbers are estimates in that account.
