Depend on local market at your peril, Producers told
The deputy trade director in the Ministry of Industry,Trade and Marketing, Mr Ernest Elias (right), speaks at a forum on trade policy and negotiations in Dar es Salaam yesterday. With him is Prof Andrew Temu of the Sokoine University of Agriculture.
By Bethuel Kinyori
Manufacturers in the country have been warned against focusing their operations to serve the domestic market only if they are to survive and compete effectively under the East African Common Market.
Participants of the inaugural trade policy forum held in Dar es Salaam yesterday challenged local industrialists to think beyond national borders to be able to cope with the envisaged free movement of goods in the region.
They said it is high time Tanzanian manufacturers developed and started implementing marketing strategies that will enable them to deal with the envisaged stiff business rivalry.
The gathering was told that the current mindset of most manufacturers being satisfied with domestic sales alone was suicidal and detrimental.
The common market protocol is expected to be signed next month and its implementation is set for early next year.
The participants warned that most industries would incur heavy losses and be forced to close shop in less than two fears if adequate measures to broadened their markets and marketing products outside the country are not timely taken.
Mr Hussein Kamote of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries told the participants of the inaugural Annual Forum for Private, Public and Academia on Partnership on Trade Policy and Negotiations that manufacturers are yet to explore the vast business opportunities in the EAC bloc.
"Their (industrialists) main priority is the domestic market…the regional market is secondary…and such an attitude needs to be done away with if we are to fully benefit from the broader regional trade," he said.
Dr Lunogelo Bohela, who heads the Economic and Social Research Foundation, said Tanzania needs to utilize its strengths to get more out of various trade agreements.
He noted in a paper titled: EAC from the Custom Union to the Common Market that Tanzania has many strengths that can make it compete effectively in the region.
According to him, the newness of many industries in the country gives them a technological edge that can make locally made products competitive. He said Tanzania’s other competitive edges include political stability and abundant natural resources.
He however cautioned that weaknesses that would disadvantage the country should be timely addressed to enable Tanzania to gain and benefit from the integrated regional market.
"For example, we lack a strong private sector whose role is vital in increasing entrepreneurial activities in the country. The informal sector should not be ignored in the aspect of trade.
By cultivating an entrepreneurial culture we will have a breed of entrepreneurs that are daring to cross border and trade,"he explained.
