Cotton

Tanzania ranks among Africa's leading cotton producers, opening opportunities across the full value chain from ginning to spinning, weaving, and garment manufacturing.

Cotton is one of Tanzania's traditional cash crops, sitting alongside cashew nuts, coffee, tea, and tobacco as a cornerstone of the country's agricultural export base.

The crop feeds directly into a domestic textiles and apparel industry that uses locally sourced cotton to manufacture consumer textiles, ready-made clothing, and essential health commodities such as treated mosquito nets.

Cotton is also classified as a prioritized commodity under the Agriculture Master Plan 2050, placing it at the centre of Tanzania's strategy to scale processing, value addition, and export volumes.

Cotton in Tanzania's Agricultural Economy

Agriculture and agribusiness contribute 26% of Tanzania's GDP and employ over 65% of the population, with cotton listed among the key cash crops that drive strong export demand.

Cotton sits within a portfolio of traditional cash crops—cashew nuts, coffee, cotton, tea, and tobacco—that anchor Tanzania's rural economy.

Agriculture as a whole accounted for 23.6% of total goods exports in 2025^[1], with cotton contributing to flows directed to established traditional markets in the European Union, the UAE, and Far East buyers.

Tanzania ranks among Africa's leading cotton producers, a positioning that underpins the country's strategy to expand both raw lint exports and downstream textile manufacturing.

Export Markets for Tanzanian Cotton

Around 44% of Tanzania's exports—comprising minerals, tourism, coffee, cashew nuts, cotton, sisal, tobacco, tea, and cloves—are destined for Switzerland, India, South Africa, China, and Kenya^[4].

Over 73% of Tanzania's trade is concentrated among ten countries: China, Switzerland, India, South Africa, the UAE, Kenya, the DRC, the United States, Comoros, and Vietnam^[4].

These trade flows place cotton within a buyer base that combines Asian textile manufacturing hubs with African regional markets, giving exporters multiple offtake channels.

Tanzania's wider export footprint reached USD 3,946.76 million under the AfCFTA, USD 2,968 million within the SADC, and USD 1,163.8 million within the EAC in 2024^[3], with cotton-bearing shipments benefitting from preferential access across these blocs.

Cotton as a Prioritized Commodity

The Ministry of Agriculture lists cotton as a prioritized commodity under the Agriculture Master Plan 2050, alongside cashew, sisal, coffee, maize, paddy, sorghum, wheat, sunflower, sesame, soybeans, kidney beans and other pulses, fruits, spices, vegetables, poultry, red meat, dairy, fodder, and aquaculture.

The Master Plan targets a USD 100 billion agricultural GDP, USD 20 billion in net exports, and 10% annual sector growth, with prioritized commodities expected to drive a tenfold increase in commodity processing through warehouses and market linkages.

To accelerate implementation, the Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (AGCOT) initiative was introduced in 2025, covering Tanzania's Central Zone, Southern Zone, Mtwara Zone, and Northern Zone.

The corridor framework is designed to strengthen production and productivity, improve domestic and international market access, enhance capital access, promote crop value addition, and facilitate availability of agricultural inputs—all directly relevant to scaling cotton output.

Investment Opportunities Along the Cotton Value Chain

Cotton is explicitly named in the Ministry of Agriculture's summary of investment opportunities for strategic commodities^[2], alongside sesame, sunflower, palm oil, soya beans, maize, rice, cassava, legumes, horticultural crops, cashew nuts, sisal, and pyrethrum.

Priority investment areas include commercial farming of strategic crops across the agricultural corridors, productive infrastructure such as irrigation systems and water harvesting facilities, and supply and local manufacturing of inputs and farm machinery.

Further opportunities lie in post-harvest facilities such as pack houses, cold storage, and warehouses, as well as agro-processing facilities for cereals, oilseeds, cashews, sugar, coffee, dairy, and fish.

Export facilitation through auctions, logistics, and crop hubs rounds out the priority investment stack for cotton and other prioritized commodities.

Textile and Apparel Manufacturing

Tanzania's position as one of Africa's leading cotton producers creates opportunities across the full textile value chain—from cotton ginning to spinning, weaving, and garment manufacturing.

Investment can focus on fully integrated textile mills and value addition from field to factory, capturing margin that currently leaves the country as raw lint exports.

Within the consumer goods sector, local manufacturers already utilise locally sourced cotton to produce consumer textiles, ready-made clothing, and essential health commodities such as treated mosquito nets.

This existing industrial base provides offtake for domestic ginners and a platform for scaling integrated operations linked to export markets under AfCFTA, AGOA, and EU trade preferences.

Trade Preferences and Market Access

Exports to the European Union stood at USD 686.3 million in 2024, while 2023 shipments to the United States under AGOA reached USD 85.4 million^[3]—both relevant channels for cotton lint and finished textile products.

In 2025, US goods imports from Tanzania totaled USD 241.7 million^[5], with new US tariffs placing Tanzania in the lowest bracket at a 10% duty, comparing favourably with other African nations facing 15% to 30%.

In Asia, major markets including China, India, Japan, Singapore, and the UAE accounted for USD 2,840.3 million in 2024^[3], providing deep demand for raw cotton and intermediate textile products.

Special Economic Zones and Export Processing Zones provide dedicated trade and export infrastructure that integrated cotton and textile investors can leverage for duty-free input sourcing and export-oriented production.

Last Update: May 2026

References

1. https://www.bot.go.tz/Publications/Regular/Quarterly%20Economic%20Bulletin/en/2026020820330341.pdf (Guide reference #66)
2. https://www.kilimo.go.tz/uploads/documents/sw-1747227277-Agriculture%20Annual%20Report%202023%20-%202024%20compressed.pdf (Guide reference #72)
3. https://www.viwanda.go.tz/uploads/documents/en-1747115028-hotuba_online_compressed.pdf (Guide reference #129)
4. https://www.viwanda.go.tz/uploads/documents/en-1722423611-National%20Trade%20Policy%202003%20Edition%202023_compressed.pdf (Guide reference #133)
5. https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/east-africa/tanzania (Guide reference #134)