The young man dressed in a dark blue overcoat wipes sweat from his brow as he struggles to carry a 20-meter piece of timber to a lorry.
With the timber balancing delicately on his right shoulder, he walks for about ten meters and places it in the lorry, before turning back to pick more.

He is being helped by four others. The five rush against time to clear a stack of 150 pieces, before they can start loading another lorry, which is waiting.
The timber yard in Kariobangi, a business hub on the east of Kenya ’s capital Nairobi , is a beehive of activities.
It is one among many others in the area and the capital that is recording booming business driven by increased demand of timber in construction and furniture industries.

Kenya ’s construction industry, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is experiencing boom, as demand for houses and rental yields rise.
In its economic indicators report for May, the bureau observed that in the capital alone, 16,372 people had applied to Nairobi City Council for approval of both residential and nonresidential construction plans.
Most of residential houses being constructed in the capital are apartments.
Musyoka noted that demand for timber in the sector is so high that sometimes they are unable to satisfy their customers.


Musyoka, as other timber merchants in the area, sells a foot of timber at 0.35 U.S. dollars.
“Prices went up last year as supply of timber dwindled and demand, especially in the construction industry increased,” he said.
Initially, most merchants in the capital sold a foot of timber for 0.16 dollars.