The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Monthly Economic Review for October 2016 shows that the value of export of goods and services in the year ending September 2016, increased by +7.1%.
Overall exports reached USD9,477.2m, compared to USD8,852.8m in the year ending September 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 USD2,267.4m worth of exports in the year ending September 2016, showing a year-on-year increase of +12.8%.
Foreign exchange earnings from manufactured goods increased by +5.02% to USD1,330.9m in the year ending September 2016, with a notable improvement recorded in edible oil, textile apparels, plastic goods, fertilizer, and paper products.
Gold exports increased by +5.85% to USD1,307.7m as a result of increase in export volume and recovery in prices in the world market.
Among Tanzania’s traditional exports, increases were seen in coffee (USD158.9m, +0.7%), cotton (USD51.1m, +60.2%), tea (USD46.7m, +4.2%), cloves (USD49.7m, +133.3%), and sisal (USD23.5m, +21.8%).
There was also a notable rise in export value of oil seeds, cereals, cocoa, wood products, and hides and skins.
World Commodities Prices
In September 2016, prices of crude oil and white petroleum products went up, reaching USD45.04 per barrel and USD542.96 per ton respectively, largely due to a fall in crude oil inventories in the US and increased optimism that OPEC will cut down production.
The price of gold fell to 1,326.61 in September 2016 due to rise in speculation that the Federal Reserve of America will increase interest rate which in turn would reduce the demand for gold as a safe investment.