China to Invest USD100m in Tile Factory in Tanzania

Chinese Investors plan to invest USD100m in the construction of a tile plant in Mkiu Village, Mkuranga District, Coast Region of Tanzania.

This was announced during the visit of Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa at the construction site on July 15th 2016.

The construction of the tile plant will begin in December 2016, by Goodwill Ceramic Limited.

The tile factory is expected to produce 800,000 roofing tiles per day. It will also employ 1,500 Tanzanians directly and more than 3,000 indirectly.

The roofing tiles will be distributed across the member states of the East African Community (EAC), which include Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

Frank Yang, CEO of Goodwill Ceramic Limited, explained that the company wants to take part in Tanzania’s industrialization process for achieving its 2025 vision.

Tanzania 2025 Vision

Tanzania aims to become a semi-industrialized country by 2025, for which the contribution of manufacturing to the national economy must reach a minimum of 40% of the GDP.

To achieve this, Tanzania aims to transform from being dominated by natural resource exploitation activities and extractive industries (agriculture, tourism and mining) to become an economy with a broad and diverse base of manufacturing, processing and packaging industries that will lead both the productive as well as the export trade sector.

Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are expected to provide the capital for the desired industrial development.

China FDI to Tanzania

Chinese FDI in Africa at the end of 2014 totaled USD24.5b, 16.3% of which were directed to Tanzania.

Chinese investments in Tanzania rose by almost 100% in 2014, reaching USD4b, compared to around USD2.5b in 2013.

In 2014 more than 500 Chinese companies invested in Tanzania and created 150,000 jobs, according to Lu Youqing, the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania.