Manufactured Exports Rise By 84 Percent On High Demand

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Samuel Kamndaya

29 June 2011

Growing demand for Tanzania’s manufactured goods in neighbouring countries raised earnings by 84 per cent during the year to April 2011.A 26 per cent loss was posted during the year to April 2010.East Africa’s second largest economy exported manufactured goods worth $1.027 billion (about Sh1.54 trillion), the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has said.

“The performance of manufactured goods was attributed to improved performance of the manufacturing sector and high demand of industrial goods from the neighbouring countries,” says the BoT in its May 2011 Monthly Economic Review.

During a similar period in 2010, the country earned $558 million (about Sh837 billion on current exchange rate), a 26 per cent drop from manufactured goods worth $703million (about Sh1.055 trillion) exported during the year to April 2009.

Analysts see the performance as an indication that the country’s economy is changing from being a massive exporter of raw materials to an exporter of processed products.

According to the BoT, major exports of manufactured goods include cement, textile apparels (including mosquito nets), edible oil, plastic items, iron and steel products as well as wheat flour.

Available data indicate that goods from Tanzania, passing through the border between the country and Kenya have tripled since the coming into force of the East African Community Common Market on July 1, 2010.

The country’s producers are on record as having exported goods worth Sh4.4billion compared to goods worth Sh1.4 billion exported to the neighbouring country during the entire period from July 2009 to June 2010.

At the same time, imports from Kenya reached Sh10.9 billion during the period between July 2010 and May 2011. The amount compares poorly with goods worth Sh16.7billion that were imported from the region’s largest economy during the entire 2009/2010 financial year.

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