Abstract:
The Government emphasizes a new direction for the country’s economy. It commits her resources to
inclusive economic growth through industrialization. This means that more investment on wood processing
industries is required. Information on economic value of imported wood based products is important to
inform development policies in Tanzania. Therefore, the overarching aim of this study was to provide
insight into the values of wood based products import streams to Tanzania by focusing on the types of
wood products imported, their values, and countries of origin; and to recommend investment opportunities
to reduce the balance of trade. Methods used were literature review, and the collection of export and
import statistics of between 2007 and 2018 from Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Headquarters in Dar
es Salaam. The Common External Tariff 2012 Version was used to filter codes of the sections and heads
referring wood based products before formal request was made to the TRA Headquarters on the relevant
codes. The data were analyzed mainly using Excel software. The results show that wood products which
have been imported to Tanzania since 2007 exhibited a volatile trend. There was an increase in the
imports of wood based products between year 2007 and 2013, while a high-pitched increase (by about
87%) was between 2013 and 2015, followed by a steady decrease between 2015 and 2017. Wood Based
products (poles) treated with paint, stains, creosote or other preservatives were the main products that had
the highest value (TZS 27.7 billion in 2014) compared to other products imported between 2007 and 2018.
Some of the products imported include clothes’ hangers, wood charcoal, and fuel wood, in logs, billets,
twigs, faggots or similar forms. It is possible to save the foreign money spent to import some of these
products by investing in industries in Tanzania to produce them locally
