Tanzania has recently imposed new protectionist levies on various Kenyan products, including eggs, dairy items, meat products, and confectioneries like biscuits. These measures contravene the East African Community (EAC) Customs Union’s regulations and have led to a significant reduction in export earnings for Kenyan traders. The introduction of these tariff barriers threatens to rekindle the historically fluctuating trade relations between the two nations, which had shown signs of improvement in recent times.
Kenyan manufacturers attribute a Sh4.2 billion decrease in domestic export earnings from goods sold to Tanzania last year to these “discriminatory taxes” imposed by Tanzanian authorities. This decline marks the first drop in eight years, excluding the period affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Specifically, Tanzania is enforcing a sugar levy of Tsh1,000 (approximately Ksh50) per kilogram on Kenyan-made confectioneries such as sweets, biscuits, and chocolates—a fee not applied to similar locally produced items. Additionally, Kenyan dairy products like yoghurt, ice cream, cheese, and butter are subjected to a Tsh1,000 levy per kilogram or litre, which is substantially higher than the Tsh50 charged for comparable Tanzanian products. Furthermore, Tanzanian authorities have imposed a 25 percent excise duty on the export of hatching eggs from Kenya, a move that contradicts the principles of the EAC Customs Union.
These increased charges have rendered Kenyan products more expensive and less competitive in the Tanzanian market, adversely affecting their sales in East Africa’s most populous country. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has highlighted these issues, noting that the discriminatory taxes on confectionery, dairy, and meat products mean that Kenyan goods are taxed more heavily than those produced domestically in Tanzania.
The EAC Customs Union Protocol, established in 2005, is designed to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor within the seven-nation trading bloc, promoting a free trade area with zero duty on domestic goods and services and a common external tariff on imports. The reintroduction of trade barriers, coupled with the strengthening of the Kenyan shilling against regional currencies including the Tanzanian shilling, has led to reduced earnings for traders exporting goods to Tanzania. According to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the value of domestic exports to Tanzania declined by 7.36 percent to Sh51.84 billion in 2024, down from Sh55.96 billion the previous year.
