Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE prices of selected commodities in the year ending November recorded an increase, save for Arabica coffee, tea, cloves and gold.
During the period under review, the price of cotton increased due to improved demand whereas that of Robusta coffee went up owing to shortage fears in Vietnam—the major coffee producer.
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for December shows that the prices of crude oil and related products rose in anticipation of OPEC extending production cuts.
On the other hand, gold price declined slightly on account of investors’ optimism, following announcements of effective vaccines for Covid-19, while prices of tea and cloves fell in response to low demand. In Tanzania, the value of gold, which accounted for 55.3 per cent of the total non-traditional exports during the reference period, fetched $2,855.6 million.
Annually, most prices declined except for Arabica coffee, gold and tea from Mombasa auction. Subdued prices for oil and some agricultural products are attributed to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in contraction in demand.
In Tanzania, the value of oil imports, which accounted for 17.1 per cent of goods import declined by 28.8 per cent to $1,310.6 million owing to decrease in both price and volume.
This contributed greatly to the decrease of imports bill for goods and services to $8,966.4 million in the year ending November last year from $10,516.9 million in the corresponding period in 2019.
The price of gold increased significantly due to low interest rate environment and uncertainty in financial markets almost throughout the year.
