Tanzania Exports Increase by 9.4% in Year Ending May 2016

The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Monthly Economic Review for June 2016 shows that the value of export of goods and services in the year ending May 2016 increased by +9.4%.

Overall exports reached USD10,057.3m, compared with USD9,190.4m in the year ending May 2015.

The improvement was mainly driven by an increase in travel (tourism) receipts, manufactured goods and gold.

Travel maintained the leading position among foreign currency earners, before manufactured goods, gold and traditional exports, with USD2,307.1m worth of exports in the year ending May 2016, showing a year-on-year increase of +6.6%.

Foreign exchange earnings from manufactured goods increased by 18% to USD1,516.5m in the year ending May 2016, with a notable improvement recorded in sisal products, manufactured tobacco, textile apparel and plastic items.

Gold exports increased by +3.6% to USD1,280.9m as a result of increase in export volume.

Among Tanzania’s traditional exports, increases were seen in coffee (USD149.5m, +0.2%), tea (USD49.8m, +13.7%), cloves (USD46m,  +50.3%) and sisal (USD23.9m, +35%).

There was also a notable rise in export value of oil seeds, raw hides and skins, cocoa, cereals, and re-exports of machinery, vehicles, wheat and tyres.

World Commodities Prices

In May 2016, prices of coffee, cotton and cloves went up, thanks to higher global demand, reaching USD1.85 per kg of Robusta coffee and USD3.42 of Arabica, USD1.55 per kg of cotton, and USD8.75 per kg of cloves.

Prices of crude oil and white petroleum products also increased in May 2016, reaching USD45.94 per barrel and USD558.79 per ton respectively due to a decline in USA crude oil production, supply disruptions in some countries in the Middle East, and expectations about decrease in production in non-OPEC.

The price of gold rose to 1,260.95 in May 2016 due to the weakness of the US dollar against some major currencies.