Tanzania Leads East Africa in AfCFTA Exports

(DAR ES SALAAM) – Tanzania has become the leading East African Community country using the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trading arrangement, a development that highlights opportunities for South Sudan as it works towards full participation in the continental free trade agreement.

According to an analysis of AfCFTA trade performance released on 30 June, Tanzania had issued 392 Certificates of Origin by June 2025, ranking first in the East African Community and third across Africa. Tanzania’s exports traded under the AfCFTA reached US$3.9 billion (about SSP 25.35 trillion) in 2024.

South Africa ranked first on the continent by issuing 4,658 Certificates of Origin, followed by Egypt with 2,852. Within the EAC, Kenya issued 112 certificates while Rwanda issued 29. By June 2025, AfCFTA member states had issued a total of 8,563 certificates.

The figures show that EAC countries are increasingly making use of the preferential tariff arrangements available under the AfCFTA.

The findings were presented during a three day capacity building workshop for Tanzania’s private sector organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) in collaboration with the Tanzania Private Sector Federation (TPSF) and supported by GIZ.

More than 40 Tanzanian businesses attended the workshop, where they received training on the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Goods.

The participating enterprises represented manufacturing, agriculture and agro processing, cosmetics, arts and crafts, trading, freight forwarding, transport and logistics, and other sectors.

Opening the workshop, TPSF Chief Executive Officer Deogratius Massawe encouraged businesses to identify barriers preventing them from taking full advantage of the AfCFTA market, which serves about 1.3 billion consumers across Africa.

Tanzania’s main exports under the AfCFTA include sisal fibre, float glass, insecticidal mosquito nets, rice, coffee, fruit and vegetables. New export destinations include Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Ethiopia, Algeria, Guinea and Nigeria.

Speaking on behalf of EABC, Trade and Policy Advisor Adrian Njau urged businesses to work closely with their government to identify new export markets and products with untapped potential across Africa.

Lamech Wesonga, GIZ Economic Policy Advisor on AfCFTA for the East African Community, said the organisation remains committed to increasing private sector awareness of the AfCFTA Agreement and its protocols to ensure businesses across the region can benefit from new market opportunities.

The three day workshop also covered the AfCFTA Agreement, the Protocol on Trade in Goods and its annexes, together with the opportunities and challenges businesses face when entering AfCFTA markets.

Participants also received training on key EAC trade instruments, including the Common External Tariff and the Simplified Trade Regime, which makes it easier for small scale cross border traders to obtain simplified Certificates of Origin and complete trade documentation within the East African Community.

The workshop follows a similar EABC and GIZ capacity building programme held in Juba in June, where more than 45 South Sudanese enterprises called on the Government of South Sudan to speed up ratification of the AfCFTA Agreement so local businesses can begin trading under the continental framework and access the same opportunities already available to other East African Community member states.