Cashew & Coffee Value-Addition Processing Facility in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT)

Tanzania is entering a new investment era underpinned by record FDI of USD 1.7 billion in 2024 — the highest since 2014 — a 28% annual rise driven by infrastructure, services, and mining. The Tanzania Investment Centre registered 842 projects worth USD 7.7 billion in 2024 alone, the highest since 1991. Mining exports surged 31.1% to USD 5.4 billion in 2025, with a 2026/27 mining budget prioritising critical minerals including graphite, nickel-cobalt, and niobium. The newly enacted TISEZA Act 2025 merged TIC and EPZA, introduced expedited permits for strategic projects, and established a national land bank, materially reducing entry friction. Agro-processing is a stated government priority: cashew, coffee, and cotton value-addition have been explicitly pitched to U.S. and Nordic investors at high-level forums in 2025–2026. Zanzibar's Silicon Zanzibar initiative is accelerating digital-economy momentum. Tanzania's multi-vector diplomacy — including a USD 2 billion Russia-TISEZA investment pipeline, eight Kenya-Tanzania MoUs spanning railway and gas, and Nordic Summit outcomes in February 2026 — broadens the source-country pool for capital. Key residual risks include arbitrary tax-policy application flagged in the 2025 U.S. Investment Climate Statement, land-ownership restrictions for foreigners, a potential EU ODA freeze worth EUR 156 million, and political uncertainty ahead of elections. Moody's affirmed Tanzania's B1/stable rating projecting 6% growth in 2026.

The Tanzanian government has explicitly incentivised local agro-processing over raw commodity export, and the February 2026 East Africa Nordic Investment Summit in Dar es Salaam launched a Tanzania Youth Agri-Export Hub specifically targeting UK market access. Government priority pitches at the 2025 UN General Assembly named cashew, coffee and cotton value-addition as headline investment targets, signalling strong policy tailwind and potential fiscal incentives for early movers.

Market drivers:

- Government policy shift from raw-material exports to value-added processing, backed by the National Trade Policy 2023 and industrialisation agenda

- SAGCOT corridor (Mbeya/Iringa regions) offering fertile land, reliable rainfall, and proximity to cold-chain logistics gaps investors can fill

- Growing EU and UK demand for traceable, processed African agri-goods under AfCFTA and AGOA preferential access frameworks

Risks:

- Land-ownership restrictions on foreigners require long-term lease structures that can be disputed under the 2023 National Land Policy

- Tanzania Revenue Authority's inconsistent recognition of TIC investment incentives in practice, creating unexpected tax exposure