Economic relations between Tanzania and Japan
While the fluctuation of trade volume between Japan and Tanzania was relatively mild in the 1990s, trade between the two countries has been increasingly vibrant in recent years.
Export from Japan to Tanzania has grown by 275% in 10 years (2004 to 2014), amounting to 32 billion yen (approx. 266.7 million USD ) in 2014. Similary, export from Tanzania to Japan has achieved remarkable growth of 193% in the same period, amounting to 25.2 billion yen (approx. 210million USD) in 2014.
Trade between Tanzania and Japan
At a Nile perch processing factory in Mwanza - frozen Nile perch filet is one of the important export products to Japan
Japan is the sixth largest export destination for Tanzania (409 billion TZS/ 1,947 million USD) after India (2,073 billion TZS/9,800 million USD), South Africa (1,139 billion TZS/ 5,423 million USD), China (1,130 billion TZS/ 5,380 million USD), Kenya (737 billion TZS/ 3,509 billion USD), and Democratic Republic of Congo (465 billion TZS/ 2,214billion TZS). (Bank of Tanzania, 2015)
In 2014, the five major export products from Tanzania to Japan were: Precious and Base Metal Ores (8.4 billion JPY/ 70 million USD), Sesame Seeds (7.8 billion JPY/ 65 million USD), Coffee (4.2 billion JPY/ 35 million USD), Tobacco (3.1 billion JPY/ 25.8 million USD) and Fish and Seafood (0.94 billion JPY/ 7.8 million USD). (Ministry of Finance, Japan 2015)
Sesame seeds: In 2014 Japan imported 33,910 tons of sesame seeds from Tanzania and Tanzania is the second largest origin of sesame seeds import to Japan after Nigeria, increasing the import volume by 283 % compared to 2013. In Japan, sesame seeds are mostly processed into sesame oil and widely used in Japanese cuisine.
Coffee: Japan imported 12 billion kilograms of coffee from Tanzania in 2014. Tanzania is the second largest origin of coffee imported from Africa after Ethiopia. In fact, Japan was the top destination of coffee exports from Tanzania in 2013 (National Bureau of Statistics, Tanzania). Arabica coffee produced in Tanzania are branded as "Kilimanjaro beans" in Japan and are highly valued.
Fish: In 2014, Tanzania exported 1.4 billion kilograms of fish and seafood to Japan. Most exported fish is Nile perch from Lake Victoria. Grilled Nile perch is widely consumed at restaurants and home in Japan .
Tanzanian export to Japan
Tanzania's import from Japan has been increasing particularly since 2005. In 2014 Japan was the seventh largest origin of import after India (3,055 billion TZS/ 1.45 billion USD), China (2,597 billion TZS/ 1.23 billion USD), Switzerland(2,149 billion TZS/ 1.02 billion USD), United Arab Emirates (1,942 billion TZS/0.92 billion USD), Kenya (1,082 billion TZS/ 0.51 billion USD) and South Africa (997 billion TZS/ 0.47 billion USD).
In 2014, Tanzania’s three leading import categories from Japan were: Automobiles (18.5 billion JPY/154 million USD), Steel and Steel Products (7.5 billion JPY/65.2 million USD), and Plastics and Plastic products (1.8billion JPY/15 million USD).
Automobiles: More than 50% of all imports from Japan are automobiles, which are mainly used cars, buses and trucks. In 2014, the import of automobiles from Japan increased by 16.7% compared to 2013 and more than 30,000 automoniles were exported to Tanzania for the first time in the trade history between the two countries. Japanese vehicles are very popular in Tanzania for their high-quality build and used in rapidly growing freight transport due to the stable economic growth and infrastructure development in Tanzania.
Steel and Steel Products: In 2014, more than 97 % of exported steel products to Tanzania was hot rolled steel sheet due to the increasing demand of construction materials and lightweight iron frames.
Tanzanian import from Japan
