MARKET ACCESSIBILITY


Market Accessibility

Tanzania is a prime location for centralised market operations in East Africa and the preferred choice for regional headquarters as well as multi-country distribution centres. It is the only country in the EAC, which is surrounded by eight countries, with five of them land-locked.

Tanzania also boasts immense business opportunities from several trade arrangements like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) under which over 6,500 Tanzanian products enjoy duty and quota free access to the lucrative US markets. Investors in Tanzania stand to benefit further from the European Union’s Everything But Arms (EBA) program and the EAC market of over 120 million populations.

Japan’s Generalized System of Preferences, Canada’ s PACT and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) also offer avenues for easy marketing of products from Tanzania. China and Korea have recently offered preferential trade arrangements to Tanzania.

As a general rule, Tanzanian products can enter most of the world’s rich economies duty and quota free or with limited quota restrictions.

Qualifying articles under AGOA arrangement include:

- Textiles & textile articles produced entirely in Tanzania.

- Apparel made of US yarns/fabrics; and apparel made of yarns/ fabrics not produced in commercial quantities in the US.

- Clothes made of sub-Saharan Africa yarns/fabrics (subject to limited quota).

- Eligible hand-loomed, handmade, or “folklore” articles and “ethnic” printed fabrics (certain Tanzania products qualify).

The special AGOA apparel rule allows clothing made in Tanzania using yarns and fabrics from the third country to enter the US market free of customs duties but subject to limited quota until September 2012.