Tanzania establishes 1,604 edible oil industries in efforts to reduce imports
DODOMA: TANZANIA has established 1,604 edible oil processing industries as the government intensifies efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in cooking oil production and reduce dependence on imports, Minister for Industry and Trade, Judith Kapinga has revealed.
The Minister for Industry and Trade, Judith Kapinga revealed this at the parliament in Dodoma today, May 22, 2026, when presenting the ministry’s budget estimates for the 2026/2027 financial year stating that the industries include 1,038 micro-scale factories, 543 small-scale industries, nine medium-sized factories and 14 large-scale processing plants.
Additionally, she said that the industries have a combined installed production capacity of 2,527,739 tonnes of edible oil annually and have created 10,755 direct jobs and 36,416 indirect employment opportunities across the country.
However, the minister said that despite the growing number of factories she said that domestic production still falls short of national demand.
Elaborating, she noted that presently, local industries produce about 302,000 tonnes of edible oil annually against national demand of approximately 700,000 tonnes and as a result, around 430,000 tonnes are imported each year to bridge the supply gap.
The minister further said that the government has continued implementing various strategies aimed at boosting local edible oil production, including the production and distribution of improved seeds to farmers, fertilizer subsidies, encouraging large-scale investment in oilseed farming and improving processing technologies for small-scale producers.
