Coffee
Coffee is one of Tanzania's leading traditional cash crops, helping drive traditional exports to USD 1,512.2 million in 2025, up from USD 1,473.3 million in 2024, on the back of both higher prices and increased volumes.[6]
Coffee sits within Tanzania's traditional cash crop basket alongside cashew nuts, cotton, tea, and tobacco, and remains a core foreign exchange earner.[1]
The crop is prioritized under the national Agriculture Master Plan 2050 and is one of the strategic commodities targeted for expanded processing, value addition, and export market growth.[2]
Coffee in Tanzania's Export Performance
Coffee, alongside tobacco, was one of the main drivers of growth in traditional exports in 2025.[6]
Traditional exports rose to USD 1,512.2 million in 2025 from USD 1,473.3 million in 2024, largely due to higher exports of tobacco and coffee influenced by both rising prices and increased volumes.[6]
Total exports of goods and services rose by 10.2% in 2025 to USD 17,599.2 million from USD 15,968.4 million in 2024.[6]
Exports of goods specifically increased to USD 10,282.4 million in 2025, up from USD 9,121.6 million in 2024, with the growth driven mainly by gold, manufactured goods, tobacco, and coffee.[6]
Agriculture as a whole accounted for 23.6% of total goods exports in 2025, with coffee among the headline traditional commodities.[1]
Key Export Markets for Tanzanian Coffee
Tanzania continues to supply established traditional markets for its agricultural exports, including the European Union, specifically Belgium, Poland, and Germany, as well as the UAE and Far East markets including South Korea, Indonesia, and China.[1]
Around 44% of Tanzania's exports, which comprise minerals, tourism, coffee, cashew nuts, cotton, sisal, tobacco, tea, and cloves, are destined for Switzerland, India, South Africa, China, and Kenya.[7]
Over 73% of Tanzania's overall trade is concentrated among ten countries: China, Switzerland, India, South Africa, the UAE, Kenya, the DRC, the United States, Comoros, and Vietnam.[7]
In 2025, US goods imports from Tanzania totaled USD 241.7 million, with the country placed in the lowest tariff bracket subject to a 10% duty, a position that is favorable relative to other African nations facing rates of 15% to 30%.[7]
Coffee Processing and Domestic Value Addition
Coffee is one of the commodities at the center of Tanzania's agro-processing agenda, with the country roasting and packaging coffee for both domestic retail and export markets.[5]
Within the fast-moving consumer goods and light manufacturing sector, processed coffee complements other outputs such as frozen foods, fortified foods, sugar, edible oils, and milled agricultural products.[5]
Coffee also feeds into the non-alcoholic beverage segment, which produces carbonated soft drinks, syrup concentrates, juices, energy and sports drinks, teas, coffee, and bottled water.[4]
The broader food and beverages opportunity set covers fruit and vegetable preservation, oils and fats, dairy products, grain milling, starches, animal feeds, and other food products including bread, sugar, chocolate, pasta, coffee, nuts, and spices, targeting both domestic and export markets.[8]
Policy Framework
Coffee is one of the prioritized commodities under the Agriculture Master Plan 2050, listed alongside fruits, spices, vegetables, cotton, cashew, sisal, maize, paddy, sorghum, wheat, sunflower, sesame, soybeans, kidney beans and other pulses, poultry, red meat, dairy, fodder, and aquaculture.[2]
To accelerate implementation of the Agriculture Master Plan 2050, the Ministry of Agriculture introduced the Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania initiative in 2025, which builds on the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania launched in 2010.[2]
The new corridor framework covers Tanzania's Central Zone, Southern Zone, Mtwara Zone, and Northern Zone, and is designed to strengthen agricultural production and productivity, improve access to domestic and international markets, enhance capital access, promote crop value addition, and facilitate the availability of agricultural inputs.[2]
The initiative targets a USD 100 billion agricultural GDP, USD 20 billion in net exports, and 10% annual sector growth by 2050, with coffee among the commodities expected to contribute to these goals.[2]
Sector targets include increasing processing of specific commodities tenfold by developing warehouses and market linkages, and lifting regional and international exports to USD 6 billion.[2]
Investment Opportunities in Coffee
Commercial farming of strategic crops across the agricultural corridors is one of the headline investment areas, with coffee among the crops eligible for corridor-aligned production.[3]
Agro-processing facilities for cereals, oilseeds, cashews, sugar, coffee, dairy, and fish are explicitly identified as priority investment opportunities under the agricultural value chain agenda.[3]
Productive infrastructure, including irrigation systems and water harvesting facilities, supports yield and quality improvements that are particularly relevant for coffee-growing regions.[3]
Post-harvest facilities such as pack houses, cold storage, and warehouses offer further entry points, alongside the supply and local manufacturing of inputs and farm machinery used in coffee cultivation.[3]
Export facilitation through auctions, logistics, and crop hubs is identified as a priority area, directly supporting coffee's traditional export channels.[3]
Roasting and packaging operations for the domestic retail market and for export provide a downstream value-addition opportunity that captures more of the coffee value chain inside Tanzania.[5]
Last Update: May 2026
References
- https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=TZ (Guide reference #2)
- https://www.bot.go.tz/Publications/Regular/Monetary%20policy%20report/en/2026011919182725.pdf (Guide reference #3)
- https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/TZA/CHN (Guide reference #4)
- https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/wir2025_en.pdf (Guide reference #5)
- https://www.tiseza.go.tz/uploads/documents/en-1745479851-TIC%202024%20Investment%20FactSheet.pdf (Guide reference #6)
- https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/countries/222/tanzania-united-republic-of (Guide reference #7)
- https://www.nbs.go.tz/uploads/statistics/documents/sw-1738321655-01.%20URT_Demographic%20and%20Socioeconomic%20Profile.pdf (Guide reference #8)
- https://www.parliament.go.tz/uploads/documents/en-1769678706-ORODHA%20YA%20WABUNGE%20TOLEO%20LA%20KWANZA%20-%2028%20JANUARI,%202026.pdf (Guide reference #9)
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