Knight Frank<\/a>, which projects Africa\u2019s online retail market could surpass $75 billion this year.<\/p>\n\u201cThis surge reflects the growing maturity of Africa\u2019s industrial real estate as a core investment asset class, while underscoring the persistent supply-demand imbalance for Grade A facilities, particularly across urban hubs and trade corridors,\u201d said Boniface Abudho, research analyst at Knight Frank in Kenya.<\/p>\n
Ecommerce and agriculture<\/p>\n
As online retail business surges across Africa, there is a growing need for the logistics infrastructure that enables the sector to thrive. That means more last-mile delivery capabilities and climate-controlled storage facilities.<\/p>\n
Nigeria alone boasts an ecommerce sector worth around $8.5 billion with a growth rate of about 11.8% up to 2033, according to the report. But South Africa\u2019s domestic ecommerce market dwarves that: Valued at over $35 billion in 2024, it is expected to double by 2033.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, agriculture is also a big factor in the growth of logistics and warehouses in Africa. The report shows that the agricultural sector accounts for 32% of Africa\u2019s total GDP and provides livelihoods for about 65% of the population.<\/p>\n
Agro-processing is one segment that has been doing well. It could help raise raw value capture by as much as 600% in sectors like cotton-to-textile. In Nigeria, for example, the $538 million Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program is expected to boost agricultural productivity by over 60%. That will be another source of the increasing demand for cold storage and agro-logistics facilities.<\/p>\n
Sustainability and trade within Africa<\/p>\n
Within the industrial and logistics sector, companies are increasingly moving to address ESG compliance. The report highlights several examples: Cold Solutions Kenya\u2019s Tatu City facility recently became the first in the continent to get the LEED Gold certification.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Woolworths in South Africa invested around $1 million in clean energy for their facilities and Botswana launched an operation for locally assembled electric vehicles, positioning itself as a leader in Africa for clean mobility.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustainability is now a defining feature of new industrial developments,\u201d said Mark Dunford, CEO of Knight Frank in Kenya.<\/p>\n
\u201cOccupiers are increasingly prioritizing ESG-compliant spaces that deliver operational efficiencies and lower energy consumption. In response, developers are embedding green design principles into both speculative builds and bespoke, build-to-suit projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The main industrial powerhouses in Africa are South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria. South Africa has the most expensive industrial rents in the countries surveyed and boasts yields of 8.25%, while Egypt and Nigeria have yields of 10% and 8%, respectively.<\/p>\n
Egypt has the highest occupancy rates: In particular, in 6th of October City, an industrial area in the Great Cairo region, occupancy hit 95%. Earlier this year, the Egyptian government invested $120 million in a pharmaceutical hub in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (a special economic zone established in 2015), aiming to localize medicine production and position Egypt as a regional leader in pharmaceuticals. This move played a part in strengthening the Egyptian logistics sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Africa\u2019s industrial and logistics market sees increased growth, occupancy levels for modern warehouses across the continent have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[79,18,19,17,188],"class_list":{"0":"post-46072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-markets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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