Stabex International joins race for East Africa's LPG market

NAIROBI, KENYA: The competition for East Africa’s Liquid Petroleum Gas customers is growing with Stabex International announcing entry.

It is estimated that the LPG usage has an untapped market size of about 83 per cent and 89 per cent in Kenya and Uganda respectively.

The population in both markets presently relies on unclean energy such as firewood, charcoal, and paraffin with LPG remaining unaffordable due to the initial high cost of acquisition.

In a statement Stabex International said it is rolling out its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) brand in Kenya and Uganda, leveraging a distribution network in its retail petrol stations.  

Governor Jackson Mandago with Stabex Head of Strategy Philip Koskei (Right) (PHOTO: Courtesy)

The company now joins other major players in the petroleum industry that are strongly positioning their LPG brands targeting to grow market share in the widely untapped regional cooking gas market.

Under the Sustainable Development Goals, LPG is recommended for cooking purposes as it plays an important role in reducing the adverse effects of gases on our environment, is clean, and helps improve household respiratory health.
 
“At Stabex, we see this as a huge opportunity in both countries and are aligning our penetration strategy with the ‘UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative’ whose goal is to have one billion more people cooking cleanly with LPG energy by 2030” said Head of Supply and Business Development, Mr. Benson Mwangi.  

“Our strategic sales teams will now focus on opening up new markets for LPG in rural areas through affordability programs. A set of other strategies will help us compete for footfall in urban markets with other gas brands to grow market share,” says Mwangi.

It is projected that coordinated marketing efforts by Stabex will grow LPG usage resulting in a market expansion of 6 per cent in three years.  According to the national bureau of statistics, Kenya alone had up to 300,000 metric tonnes of LPG demand, against an annual supply of 170,000 metric tonnes.

The company is innovating affordability solutions to enable it to lighten the initial equipment cost for new LPG consumers, especially in rural East Africa.