That dollar amount results from a 57.7% increase from $6.4 billion five years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, the total value of Tanzania’s globally exported products accelerated by 15.8% compared to $8.7 billion starting from 2024.
The top 5 most valuable exports from Tanzania are unwrought gold; unmanufactured tobacco including tobacco waste; cashew nuts, coconuts and Brazil nuts; coffee; then copper ores and concentrates. Combined, those 5 major exports represent nearly two-thirds (64.1%) of Tanzania’s total exports by value for 2025.
Tanzania’s Main Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 80.9% worth of products exported from Tanzania was bought by importers in: South Africa (28.8% of the Tanzanian total), United Arab Emirates (13.1%), India (9.3%), mainland China (5.1%), Switzerland (4.3%), Kenya (4.2%), Belgium (3.5%), Singapore (3.3%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.8%), Rwanda (2.5%), Italy (2%) and Vietnam (1.9%).
From a continental perspective, 45.9% of Tanzania’s exports by value was delivered to fellow African countries countries while 38.3% was sold to importers in Asia.
Tanzania shipped another 14.3% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.4%), Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand (0.1%) then Latin America (0.05%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Tanzania’s population of 67.2 million people, its total US$10.1 billion worth of goods exported in 2025 translates to around $150 for each resident in the southeast African nation. That per-capita average outpaces the $135 one year earlier in 2024.
Tanzania’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Tanzanian global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Tanzania.
- Gems, precious metals: US$5 billion (49.2% of total exports)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $599.8 million (6%)
- Fruits, nuts: $488.6 million (4.8%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $424.1 million (4.2%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $401.8 million (4%)
- Vegetables: $317.5 million (3.1%)
- Oil seeds: $298.8 million (3%)
- Cereals: $231 million (2.3%)
- Fish: $161.2 million (1.6%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $136.1 million (1.3%)
Tanzania’s top 10 export categories generated almost four-fifths (79.5%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Ores, slag and ash: was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 38.3% from 2024 to 2025.
In second place for improving export sales was gems and precious metals via a 33.9% advance led by gold.
Tanzania’s shipments of coffee, tea and spices posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 20.6%.
The leading decliner among Tanzania’s top 10 export categories was the cereals grouping, thanks to a -23.3% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Tanzania’s most valuable export products are unwrought gold (47.2% of Tanzania’s total exports) trailed by unmanufactured tobacco and tobacco waste (5.6%), cashew or Brazil nuts and coconuts (4.3%), coffee (3.7%), copper ores and concentrates (3.4%), dried shelled vegetables (3%), oil seeds (2.6%), corn (1.4%), coal including solid fuels made from coal (1.1%), then cocoa beans (1%).
Products Creating Tanzania’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Tanzanian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Gems, precious metals: US$5 billion (Up by 34.3% since 2024)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $587.4 million (Up by 11.5%)
- Fruits, nuts: $466 million (Down by -23.1%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $415.4 million (Up by 19.4%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $397.4 million (Up by 38.1%)
- Vegetables: $312.4 million (Down by -19.2%)
- Oil seeds: $275.5 million (Down by -9.4%)
- Fish: $154.2 million (Down by -13.9%)
- Cocoa: $96.1 million (Down by -2%)
- Glass: $91.2 million (Up by 76.1%)
Historically, Tanzania generates positive net exports in the international trade of gold and, to a lesser extent, precious stones and diamonds. In turn, these cashflows indicate Tanzania’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals product category.
Products Causing Tanzania’s Worst Trade Deficits
Tanzania incurred an overall -US$6.2 billion trade deficit for 2025, reducing by -11.9% from -$7 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2024.
Below are exports from Tanzania that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Tanzania’s goods trail Tanzanian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.3 billion (Down by -18.9% since 2024)
- Vehicles: -$2 billion (Up by 18.3%)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.6 billion (Down by -0.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.2 billion (Up by 21.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$890 million (Up by 7.3%)
- Iron, steel: -$804.6 million (Up by 20.2%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$641.6 million (Down by -4.3%)
- Other chemical goods: -$469.1 million (Up by 16.3%)
- Fertilizers: -$412.2 million (Up by 26.1%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$374.2 million (Up by 5.4%)
Tanzania has a record for negative net exports particularly for refined petroleum oils, petroleum gases, and petroleum coke plus other petroleum oil residues under the mineral fuels including oil category.
Tanzanian Export Companies
Not one Tanzanian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists some exports-related companies from Tanzania. Selected examples are shown below.
- Dangote Industries Tanzania (cement)
- Nyati Cement (cement)
- Quality Group Limited (conglomerate)
- Swala Gas and Oil (oil, gas)
- Tanga Cement (cement)
- Tanzania Breweries Limited (beverages)
- Tanzania Cigarette Company (cigarettes)
- Tanzanian/Italian Petroleum Refining Co. Ltd (oil, gas)
- Twiga Cement (cement)
In macroeconomic terms, Tanzania’s total exported goods represent 3.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($293.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 3.2% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Tanzania’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Tanzania’s unemployment rate averaged 6.6% for 2025, down from an average 6.2% for 2024 per Trading Economics metrics.
Tanzania’s capital city is Dar es Salaam which literally means “residence of peace”.
See also Uganda’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports, Top Red Meat Exporters Ranked by Dollar Value and Top African Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Africa: Tanzania. Accessed on August 7, 2026
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Tanzania. Accessed on August 7, 2026
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 7, 2026
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity)
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 7, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 7, 2026
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 7, 2026
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Tanzania. Accessed on August 7, 2026
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 7, 2026
Wikipedia, Tanzania. Accessed on August 7, 2026