Tanzania produces oilseeds, particularly sunflower, and has a growing domestic processing industry. Yet imported palm oil remains a very large part of the commercial supply chain for edible oil importers in Tanzania. In 2024, Tanzania imported 277.18 million kg of non-crude palm oil and liquid fractions , worth about $147.18 million. Malaysia supplied almost all of it — 275.88 million kg.
Crude palm oil added another 36.95 million kg , valued at approximately $27.50 million . Malaysia supplied 30.44 million kg, while Indonesia contributed another 5.56 million kg.
There is a different story behind sunflower oil.
Tanzania may have a strong sunflower crop of its own, but that has not kept imported refined oil off the shelves. Local sunflower processing is already an established part of the edible-oil business; still, there is room — and demand — for imported product. In 2024, about 2.85 million kg of non-crude sunflower and safflower oil , worth roughly $2.82 million , made its way into the Tanzanian market. Turkey was the main source, with Ukraine, South Africa and the United States following behind.
So the Tanzanian market isn't built around one single type of importer.
There are companies bringing in palm olein and other finished fractions. There are local manufacturers producing fortified sunflower oil. And there are traders whose shipment records connect Tanzania to the much larger international palm-oil supply chain.
| Edible Oil / Product | 2024 Import Quantity | 2024 Import Value | Important Supply Origins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm oil & liquid fractions, non-crude - HS 151190 | 277.18 million kg | $147.18 million | Malaysia, UAE, Indonesia, Kenya |
| Crude palm oil - HS 151110 | 36.95 million kg | $27.50 million | Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore |
| Soybean oil - HS 1507 | 4.46 million kg | $3.69 million | Uganda, China |
| Non-crude sunflower/safflower oil - HS 151219 | 2.85 million kg | $2.82 million | Turkey, Ukraine, South Africa, U.S., Uganda |
| Hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils - HS 151620 | 3.35 million kg | $2.31 million | Malaysia, Kenya, Uganda, EU |
Source: WITS / UN Comtrade, 2024.
Palm oil is clearly the heavyweight.
Tanzania's imports of non-crude palm oil were worth more than $147 million in 2024, and Malaysia alone accounted for more than $146 million of that trade. The UAE, Indonesia and Kenya supplied much smaller quantities.
Crude palm oil has a smaller import volume but remains significant. Malaysia supplied about 30.44 million kg , while Indonesia supplied approximately 5.56 million kg . Singapore and the UAE also appear in the trade records.
Then there is soybean oil. Tanzania imported about 4.46 million kg in 2024, almost all of it from neighbouring Uganda.
The sunflower trade is more geographically spread out. Turkey supplied about 1.65 million kg of non-crude sunflower/safflower oil, followed by Ukraine with 145,003 kg, South Africa with 99,878 kg and the United States with 44,668 kg. India's contribution was only 2,237 kg.
There is another number worth keeping in mind here. Tanzania's reported imports of hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils came to 3.35 million kg in 2024 . Malaysia's exporter-side data, however, puts its shipments at more than 20.17 million kg — a striking gap when the two figures are placed side by side. The Tanzanian figure is lower, and that discrepancy is not necessarily unusual. Trade data reported by the two sides can differ for all sorts of reasons, which is why bilateral figures need to be read with a little caution rather than taken at face value.
Tanzania isn't simply importing edible oil because there is no domestic oil industry.
Quite the opposite.
The country has a substantial sunflower sector, and companies are processing locally produced oilseeds into cooking oil and other products. The Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority has described the domestic edible-oil sector as having a significant supply gap, with investment opportunities in oilseed farming, processing and refining.
The country's standards records also show just how active the local manufacturing side has become.
Mount Meru Millers, for example, is certified for fortified edible fats and oils and produces several oil brands. Other Tanzanian businesses listed by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards include East Coast Oils and Fats, Redsun Refinery, Mainland Group Agro Process, Mapacha Oil and several sunflower-oil manufacturers.
So an overseas supplier is entering a market where imported palm oil and locally produced sunflower oil can sit side by side.
That is an important distinction.
A buyer looking for imported palm olein may have a very different sourcing requirement from a Tanzanian sunflower-oil producer buying crude or semi-processed material.
Shipment records give a fairly broad view of the buyer side. Volza identifies 176 buyers across 1,633 edible palm-oil and palm-oil shipments, with 99 buyers active between June 2024 and May 2025.
The records include international trading companies as well as businesses operating in Tanzania. That matters because a company appearing as a buyer in shipping data is not necessarily a Tanzanian manufacturer.
| Company | Relevant Oil / Business Activity | Trade Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| AASTAR Trading Pte Ltd | Palm oil, palm olein and cooking oil | Appears repeatedly in Tanzania shipment records, including large RBD palm-olein consignments packed in 20-litre jerry cans. |
| Wilmar Trading Pte Ltd | Palm oil, palm olein and other edible oils | One of the largest names appearing in Tanzania's HS 151190 shipment data, with extensive international edible-oil trading activity. |
| Ngo Chew Hong Edible Oil Pte Ltd | Refined palm oil, palm olein and vegetable oils | Appears prominently in Tanzanian palm-oil shipment records and is part of the wider Mewah edible-oil business. |
| Mount Meru Millers Ltd | Refined and fortified edible oils, including palm/sunflower blends | Tanzanian manufacturer with certified fortified edible-oil products and a domestic consumer-oil business. |
| Ney International Limited | Palm oil and vegetable cooking oils | Appears repeatedly in Tanzanian palm-oil shipment records and represents another active buyer within the import trade. |
AASTAR is particularly visible in the broader palm-oil shipment data. Recent records show 147 shipments for the company, including RBD palm olein packed in 20-litre jerry cans and shipped to Tanzania.
Wilmar Trading appears even more strongly in HS 151190 records. Volza's current data identifies 481 shipments associated with the company in Tanzania. Ngo Chew Hong appears with another 327 shipments, while AASTAR has 325. These are shipment-record figures, not claims that the three companies are Tanzanian-registered manufacturers.
Mount Meru is a different case altogether. It is a Tanzanian manufacturer rather than simply a trading name in an import database. The Tanzania Bureau of Standards lists the company for fortified edible fats and oils , including brands such as Meru Crystal, Kilimo Sun, Meru Royal and Sunola Fresh.
Its parent group also describes manufacturing of edible oils as one of its core businesses, alongside logistics, storage and other operations across Africa.
Ney International is another name appearing regularly in Tanzania's palm-oil shipment records. Recent buyer data puts it among the more active companies in the country's palm-oil and vegetable-oil trade.
There is a useful lesson in all of this.
The company name alone doesn't tell you what kind of oil buyer you are dealing with . Shipment history is much more revealing.
Palm olein occupies a large part of the import trade, particularly in the refined and semi-refined segment.
Volza's current data identifies 312 buyers of palm olein under HS 151190 , associated with more than 4,500 shipments. Wilmar Trading, Ngo Chew Hong and AASTAR are among the names appearing most frequently in that dataset.
But palm olein isn't the whole story.
Tanzanian buyers and processors deal in:
The local sunflower industry adds another layer. The Tanzania Bureau of Standards currently lists Mount Meru's fortified blended palm/sunflower oil products, as well as certified sunflower-oil manufacturers such as Saboso Oil Mills, Mainland Group Agro Process, Redsun Refinery and others.
In other words, the buyer may be asking for imported palm olein one month and a completely different vegetable-oil specification in another part of the supply chain.
| HS Code | Product |
|---|---|
| 1507 | Soybean oil and its fractions |
| 1509 | Olive oil |
| 1511 | Palm oil and its fractions |
| 1512 | Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oils |
| 1513 | Coconut, palm-kernel and babassu oils |
| 1514 | Rapeseed, colza and mustard oils |
| 1515 | Other fixed vegetable oils |
| 1516 | Hydrogenated or otherwise modified vegetable fats and oils |
| 1517 | Margarine and edible preparations of fats and oils |
For Tanzania, HS 1511 is the most significant code to watch because of the sheer size of the palm-oil trade. HS 151190 alone accounted for 277.18 million kg of reported imports in 2024.
HS 1507 and 1512 are useful when researching soybean and sunflower oil requirements. Tanzania imported 4.46 million kg of soybean oil and 2.85 million kg of non-crude sunflower/safflower oil in 2024.
For Tanzania's edible-oil trade, the port question is fairly straightforward.
Dar es Salaam is the country's principal maritime gateway.
The Tanzania Ports Authority says Dar es Salaam handles around 95% of Tanzania's international trade and has rated capacity for 6 million tonnes of bulk liquid cargo. The port has two oil jetties and a single-point mooring facility.
That last part matters for edible oils.
Liquid cargo needs a different setup from ordinary containerised food products. Tanzania's port planning documents describe the Kurasini Oil Jetty as handling product tankers, while other offshore facilities handle larger tankers and petroleum-related cargo.
Edible-oil shipments can therefore involve storage tanks, tank farms and downstream processing facilities rather than a simple container-to-warehouse movement.
Dar es Salaam also has a wider regional role. The port serves not only Tanzania but landlocked markets including Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
That regional reach is one reason Tanzania's edible-oil trade cannot be looked at entirely as a domestic-consumption story.
There are a couple of regulatory points that deserve attention before an edible-oil shipment leaves the origin country.
The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) requires imported pre-packaged food to be registered before it is imported, distributed or sold in Tanzania. TBS's registration guidance also requires products to comply with applicable safety and quality standards.
Tanzania also operates an import-registration and batch-certification framework, including conformity assessment and, where applicable, pre-shipment verification against relevant standards.
Edible-oil fortification is particularly important.
TBS's food-registration guidance states that imported edible fats and oils are to be fortified with vitamins A and E , with levels complying with the relevant product standard.
And the regulatory position has continued to develop. Tanzania's Cereals and Other Produce Regulatory Authority lists the Food Security (Administration of Edible Oil) Regulations, 2026 , issued in July 2026, among its current legal documents.
For an exporter, that means the current requirement should be checked against the actual product and transaction rather than relying on an old checklist.
For packaged oil in particular, registration, labelling, fortification, conformity documentation and the relevant import approvals should be sorted out with the Tanzanian buyer before dispatch.
A bulk palm-oil buyer and a Tanzanian sunflower-oil manufacturer aren't going to ask for exactly the same thing.
One may be interested in crude palm oil, shipment size and quality parameters. Another may want RBD palm olein packed in jerry cans. A local sunflower-oil manufacturer could be more concerned with refining characteristics and the requirements for fortified finished oil.
The commercial details can include:
The sourcing pattern gives some indication of what an overseas supplier is up against.
Malaysia is deeply established in Tanzania's palm-oil trade. Indonesia also has a significant position in crude palm oil and refined palm products. Kenya and Uganda participate in smaller but regionally important flows.
So the first quotation is only one part of the conversation.
A buyer who already has regular supply from Malaysia may be interested in a new supplier only if the specification, landed price, shipment schedule or commercial terms give them a reason to consider changing or diversifying the supply.
India's direct presence in Tanzania's edible-oil import data is currently modest.
In 2024, Tanzania imported only 2,237 kg of non-crude sunflower/safflower oil from India , worth approximately $2,140 .
India's soybean-oil exports to Tanzania were also small — about 2,550 kg in 2024, valued at roughly $3,780.
For hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils, India supplied Tanzania with about 5,382 kg, worth approximately $12,420, according to exporter-side data.
The picture changes when you look beyond finished edible oils.
Tanzania exported more than 62.86 million kg of sunflower-oil cake and residues to India in 2024, worth approximately $12.44 million. That is a much more visible India-Tanzania trade connection within the oilseed chain.
For Indian edible-oil exporters, however, the direct import numbers are the more relevant starting point.
Tanzania's large palm-oil supply lines are currently dominated by Malaysia and Indonesia, while regional suppliers such as Uganda and Kenya have positions in other vegetable-oil categories.
Tanzania has a substantial edible-oil trade, but the market isn't one big pool of identical buyers.
A trader importing RBD palm olein, a manufacturer refining sunflower oil and a bulk buyer sourcing crude palm oil can all appear under the same broad search for edible oil importers in Tanzania.
Their requirements won't be the same.
Tradologie can provide a B2B platform for discussing those requirements directly — the oil specification, quantity, packaging, pricing, delivery schedule and other commercial terms that shape the actual transaction.
For a supplier looking at Tanzania, that is where the useful conversation begins: not simply finding a company that imports oil, but understanding which oil it buys, in what form, and at what scale .
This content is for general informational purposes and is based on the trade, company, shipment and regulatory information provided in the source material. Shipment records and buyer databases do not necessarily represent current purchasing requirements. Exporters should independently verify buyer demand, product specifications, TBS requirements, fortification rules, documentation and commercial terms before shipment.
Tanzania imported 277.18 million kg of non-crude palm oil and liquid fractions worth about $147.18 million. It also imported 36.95 million kg of crude palm oil worth approximately $27.50 million.
Malaysia is the dominant supplier. It supplied around 275.88 million kg of non-crude palm oil and 30.44 million kg of crude palm oil in 2024.
The source highlights AASTAR Trading, Wilmar Trading, Ngo Chew Hong Edible Oil, Mount Meru Millers and Ney International among relevant buyers and market participants.
The market includes crude and refined palm oil, RBD palm olein, palm fractions, palm-kernel oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated vegetable fats and blended edible oils.
Dar es Salaam is the country's principal maritime gateway. The port has infrastructure for bulk liquid cargo and also serves landlocked markets across East and Central Africa.
Imported pre-packaged food must meet applicable Tanzania Bureau of Standards requirements. The source also highlights product registration, conformity assessment, labelling and fortification requirements. Imported edible fats and oils are required to be fortified with vitamins A and E according to the applicable product standard.
