Sugar

Tanzania’s sugar annual demand is estimated at 710,000 tonnes in 2019 versus a local production of 439,100 tonnes in the same year. Sugarcane farming and processing in Tanzania is very limited and cannot meet the national demand and the gap is filled with sugar imports.

Nonetheless, since the privatization of Tanzania’s sugar estates in the 1990s, sugar production has steadily increased. Over the past five years, Tanzania’s sugar production increased by 74%, from 252,900 tonnes in 2015 to 439,100 tonnes in 2019.  

Sugar production is concentrated mainly in 3 regions: Morogoro, Kagera, and Kilimanjaro. At present, there are 4 large sugar estates in Tanzania: the Kilombero Sugar Company with 40% market share, the Tanganyika Planting Company (34%), Kagera Sugar (17%), and Mtibwa Sugar Estates (9%).

In April 2020, the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) issued a notice inviting domestic and foreign investors to develop sugarcane and sugar processing plantations using the 20,000 ha farm in Kibuye in the Kigoma region in northwestern Tanzania.

And in July 2021, the Tanzania Revenues Authority (TRA) has waived the 15% import tax on sugar for industrial use, as part of the 2021-2021 National Budget efforts to improve the business environment in the country.

Latest Update: 2nd July 2021

Source: Bank of Tanzania (BoT), Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Tanzania Revenues Authority (TRA).