According to the survey, although the sunflower oil industry has broad and promising production potential, imported edible oil still accounts for 60% of the total demand. The fundamental reason is that the local sunflower oil production efficiency is low, and the national average output is as low as 0.6 tons /acre.

Tanzania’s agricultural product

Tanzania’s economy is dominated by agriculture, and it is basically self-sufficient in food. The main crops are corn, wheat, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava, etc. The main economic crops are coffee, cotton, sisal hemp, cashew nuts, cloves, tea, tobacco leaves, etc. The agricultural and animal husbandry population accounts for more than 80% of the national population, and the agricultural output value accounts for about 50% of the gross national product (GDP). The abundance of agricultural product resources also demonstrates the huge potential of Tanzania’s agricultural product processing and export.

It is reported that the annual output value reaches 32 million US dollars, and more than 3 million people are engaged in jobs related to the industry, mainly producing sunflower oil, cottonseed oil and soybean oil.

However, according to official data from Tanzania’s oil-producing areas, Tanzania imports 300,000 tons of edible oil every year, accounting for half of the country’s consumption, and Tanzania relies on a large amount of imports.

The analysis shows that the government’s taxation on the edible oil industry is too high, making domestic vegetable oil unable to compete with imported vegetable oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, causing many domestic enterprises to stop production. In addition, the country’s backward oil planting technology and insufficient output are also important reasons for its dependence on imports.

The sunflower oil industry

In the sunflower oil industry, a branch of edible oil, in Tanzania, which is rich in sunflower seeds, almost all the sunflower oil sold in the market is imported. In this regard, the Tanzanian government stated that the main reason is that the production of sunflower seeds is insufficient to meet the demand for oil extraction.

Tanzania’s government believes that it is too early to ban the import of cooking oil. The most important thing at present is to encourage farmers to plant a large number of oil crops to meet the demand for raw materials. Once the supply of raw materials is sufficient, the government may consider reducing imports. However, improving the processing capacity of sunflower oil is also an important starting point for Tanzania to change the pattern of edible oil import and export.

According to the analysis of the China-Africa Trade Research Center, Tanzania’s imported edible oil still accounts for 60% of the total demand, while almost all sunflower oil sold in the Tanzania market is imported. The fundamental reason is that on the one hand, Tanzania’s sunflower seed production is insufficient, and on the other hand, it is the low efficiency of Tanzania’s local sunflower seed oil production. All these demonstrate the great potential of Tanzania’s sunflower oil industry development, and many foreign companies are actively participating in Tanzania’s sunflower oil processing industry.