info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
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The cultural and creative industry is an emerging industry with creativity as the core under the background of economic globalization. It mainly includes creative groups in radio, film, animation, audio, media, visual arts, performing arts, crafts and design, sculpture, environmental art, advertising and decoration, fashion design, software and computer services.
The creative economy is on an upswing globally, fuelled by increased spending power of millennials and becoming a key contributor to the gross domestic product. The size of the global market for creative goods has expanded substantially, more than doubling in size from $208 billion in 2002 to $509 billion in 2015, data by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows.
But even with the potential of the creatives industry, Kenya and other developing countries are yet to tap into this lucrative global market.
Creative goods exports from Kenya stood at Sh4 billion ($40.9 million) in 2013 compared to Sh19.5 billion ($195m) in imports, latest available data by UNCTAD shows.
Besides the performing arts, visual arts and cultural heritage, Kenyans produce films, videos, television and radio shows, video games, music and books. There is important work being undertaken in the graphic design, fashion and advertising subsectors."These creative activities need to be anchored in political and governmental commitment and concrete support," UNCTAD reiterates.
According to the UNCTAD report, Kenya's top export partners for creative goods are Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, US and Italy. Others include Burundi, Somalia, the DRC, Rwanda and the UK.
Kenya has gained ground to be among the top 10 export partners for countries such as Botswana and Ethiopia.
The value of both imports and exports to Botswana was $0.02 million (Sh2 million) each. The value of Kenya's exports to Ethiopia was $0.51 million (Sh51m), 1.76 times the value of imports from the country.
However, it also lost its position among the top 10 export partners for Malawi and Mauritius.
Malawi exported creative goods and services worth $0.22 million (Sh22m) to Kenya in 2005 compared to $0.12 million (Sh12m) imports from the east Africa nation. In the same window, Mauritius imported items worth $4.02 million (Sh400m) from the creative industry in Kenya compared to $ 0.11 million (Sh11m) in exports to Nairobi.
Latest data showed the trade imbalance between Kenya and Rwanda grew 46 times in the period between 2005 and 2014 to stand at $36.92 million, attributable to their growing fashion and design industry.
