The Circle of Building Materials in Africa
A lot of African countries import building materials from China and some European countries such As Germany , Dubai, Italy etc.. This is despite the fact that these building materials are right here with us ,in Africa. So, do we lack resources to turn those raw materials into finished products or don't we want to trade with each other. Or are there other factors that lead us to have to import products that our continent naturally has?
Molly Ajando
Interior Design
For most people, their favourite part of the building process is decorating the interior. When decorating the modern house we normally use ornaments made from precious stones, lamps made of bronze here, chandeliers made of gold there,a coffee table made of marble or a diamond pendant.
But is the average African able to afford having such well decorated houses? No. But do we have these minerals in Africa? Absolutely. However, the irony is that diamonds are naturally found in Tanzania but are sold in plenty in Los Angeles, California. Another interesting reason why Africans cannot afford the highly prestigious stone found in their own land is that over 90% of the diamonds mined in Tanzania belong to the Queen of England, according to an agreement the Queen made with the country before their independence. So the precious stones are exported from our African countries only for us to import them again!
Egypt
From Iron and steel, marble and granite,copper and even cement, this country is doing very well in production of materials used in building and construction.
Research shows that Egypt's exports of Building Materials has steadily risen in the past three years. Infact in 2018, the ECBM, Exports Council for Building Materials Executive Director, was confident in boosting their exports to Romania,India,United Arabs Emirates and China. To date, the emphasis on the latter countries!
Bear in mind that several African countries import building and construction materials both for exterior and interior design from Dubai and China. So does this mean we are importing materials from outside our continent ,that are already in our continent, and are exported only for them to come back to us with heavy Interests?
