Tanzania has seen its exports to Kenya double in less than a year as trade relations between the two countries continue to improve after years of dispute. The latest data from the Central Bank of Kenya show that inbound goods from Tanzania grew to Sh. 51 billion Kenyan shillings from Sh. 24 billion in the previous year.
Before now, trade between the two countries has been impeded due to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between them, often resulting in occasional conflict and fracas along their border towns. Kenyan manufacturers have in the past protested what they deem discriminatory duties on goods coming in from Tanzania, as well as double inspection of goods for standards by Tanzania which had made supplies such as meat, milk, and related products to the neighbouring country uncompetitive.
In May 2021, the president of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan and her Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to lift the restrictions on trans-border trade and signed a deal to build a gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam and Mombassa. That same month, Kenya imported nearly 120,000 bags of maize from Tanzania, more than six times what it did when the trade ban was in place.
The East African Business Community also has noted this favourable balance of trade between the two countries, due to an increase of exports to Kenya.
Tanzania mainly exports cereals, vegetables and wood to Kenya while importing pharmaceuticals products, steel, plastic and iron.