Trade and Markets Policy
Situation Analysis
- Tanzania’s traditional agricultural exports such as Cashew nut, cotton, coffee, tea, tobacco, and sisal, are very much affected by the global economic crisis, evolving and stringent SPS standards, and subject to exchange rate fluctuations, especially during post-Covid 19 pandemic
- Africa’s annual food import bill is estimated to be $72 billion, which is an opportunity for Tanzania.
- The regional blocks such as EAC, SADC, and AfCFTA are opportunities for Tanzania to scale up its
regional food export - The underdeveloped local agro-processing industry makes Tanzania rely on the import of processed food.
Tanzania’s annual food import bill is $400 – $640 million, consisting of edible oil, wheat, and sugar. Other
food imports are temperate fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, etc. - Tanzania also imports most of its farm inputs such as fertilizer (90%), seed (60%), pesticide, veterinary
medicines and feed for livestock and aquaculture - Tanzania’s food surplus of 15-20% is marginal and hence it has been trading cautiously with occasional
staples’ export restrictions