Oil seed production in Tanzania mainly focuses on ground nuts (40%), sunflower (36%), sesame (15%), cotton (8%) and palm oil (1%). More than half of vegetable oil consumed in Tabora and Tanzania as a whole is imported due to insufficient domestic production. The population of western Tanzania is approximtely 5.8 million in 2012.
What is the demand for vegetable oil in Tanzania?
Demand for vegetable oil is at least growing with the rate of population growth. The production of oilseeds in Tanzania mainly focuses on ground nuts (40%), sunflower (36%), sesame (15%), cotton (8%), and palm oil (1%).
Does Tanzania have a VAT exemption on agricultural processing equipment?
Based on the framework created, and to encourage domestic investment, the Tanzanian government placed a VAT exemption on agricultural processing equipment, which includes the solvent extraction and refining equipment necessary to competitively produce sunflower oil.
What is the demand gap for edible oil in Tanzania?
Much of the demand gap is currently met by imported edible oil (60% across all edible oils, 55-70% for sunflower oil) (Salisali, 2017). The GoT wants to reduce Tanzania’s dependence on imported edible oil by boosting domestic oil seed production and downstream oil processing capacity.