Odondo, A: Bamboo Products Retail Market in Kenya

Bamboo is a natural fibre that performs over 1500 roles. In Kenya, it is mainly used in making toothpicks, baskets, skewers and incense sticks. The crop is mostly found in Central, Western and Coastal provinces of Kenya. This work focuses on the structure and performance of formal retail market for bamboo products in Kenya with specific reference to market segments in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu cities. It addresses the problem of uncertainties in the market structure and lack of concrete information on the market for bamboo products, a scenario that constrains the development of Kenya‘s bamboo industry. Structure for the retail market has been analyzed from the view point of bamboo products‘ seller concentration, bamboo products‘ differentiation and barriers to entry into the formal retail market. Market performance is examined in the context of regional disparities in the demand for bamboo products and demand variations among the products.