BoT: Cashewnut, sisal record higher export value in February

BoT: Cashewnut, sisal record higher export value in February

Sat May 02, 2015

All traditional export crops recorded lower export value relative to the corresponding period in  2014,  save for  cashewnuts  and  sisal, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has said in its Monthly Economic Review for March 2015.

The fall in export prices was consistent with the general fall in commodity prices in the world market.

It said the value of cashewnuts amounted to USD267.2m in the year ending February 2015 compared to   USD154m recorded in the corresponding period a year earlier.

This was due to the increase in export price and improved harvest following good weather and timely utilization of pesticides. The value of export of goods and services amounted to USD 8,995.3m in the year ending February 2015 compared with USD8,499.6m recorded in the corresponding period in 2014. According to the review, the improvement was driven largely by export of manufactured goods and travel receipts.

Traditional exports amounted to USD874.1m in the year ending February 2015, almost the same as was in the corresponding period in 2014. Foreign exchange earnings from non-traditional exports amounted to USD3,963m, higher by 8.1 percent compared to the value for the year ending February 2014.

The improvement was observed in the export values of manufactured goods, fish and fish products, and re-exports. A significant increase of 29.6 percent to USD,367.8m was recorded in the export value of manufactured     goods.

This notable increase in manufacturing came from sisal products, edible oil, textile apparels, plastic goods, and paper products. On the other hand, gold which has dominated non-traditional exports for about a decade, continued to record lower earnings relative to other non-traditional exports due to a decline in both export volume   and price, losing its position to manufactured exports.

Imports of goods and services amounted to USD13,423.8m in the year ending February 2015 compared with USD13,740m recorded in the corresponding period in 2014. This was driven by a decrease in imports of intermediate goods which more than offset increases in capital and other consumer goods.

A substantial decline was recorded in the import value of oil from USD4,320.9m to USD3,452.1m due to the fall in prices of oil in the world market coupled with the decline in import volume.

During the year ending February 2015, the review show receipts from services were USD3,592.2m compared with  USD3,278.1m recorded in the corresponding period in 2014.

The improvement mainly occurred in travel-related activities (which is mainly tourism) and transportation, while   receipts from other services that are not in the mainstream classification greatly weighed on the improvement in services.

The improved earnings from travel and transportation services were largely on account of increase in the number  of tourist arrivals and volume of transit goods to neighbouring countries.

During February 2015, world market prices for the selected commodities were mixed. The price of coffee (Arabica) and gold fell, while cotton and oil recorded price increased.

The fall in the price of coffee was largely due to an increase in production following good weather conditions in Brazil, while that of gold was due to strengthening of the US dollar against other major currencies.

The price of cotton rose largely due to high demand in China, while that of oil was mainly due to an increase  in demand coupled with disruption of supply from Libya and Iraq.
SOURCE: IPPMEDIA

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