Global sisal prices down: report

Dar es Salaam. Sisal farmers in Tanzania are currently getting low exports earnings, following the fall of the commodity price in at the world market due to decrease in demands.

According to monthly economic review by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), the global price for one kilo of sisal fell to $1.7 during the year that ended April 2018 from $1.9 recorded in the correspondent month in 2016, Two years prior to 2016, the sisal price was growing at an average of 15 per cent annually as demand rose.

Tanzania is the second largest sisal producer in the world behind Brazil while Kenya is the third.

However, the report has shown that the trend started to shrink in the year ending April 2017.

The reports by the Tanzania Sisal Board show that the earnings from the sisal fibre exports were $41.1 million after exporting a total of 25, 471 tonnes in 2017.

The cash crop was the leading contributor in the national income, contributing a lion share of 73 per cent of the total exports in 2017.

The popular export destinations are China, Saud Arabia, Spain, India, Egypt, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Libya and Morocco. During the same year, domestic earnings from sales of sisal fibres were Sh25.04 billion.

The board wishes to increase production of sisal hitting 53, 237 tonnes in 2020/21 financial from the current average of 34, 589 tonnes per year.

World production of sisal and a similar agave fibre, henequen, is estimated at around 300 000 tonnes, valued at $75 million. The major producers are Brazil (120,000 tonnes), Tanzania (35, 000) and Kenya (25 000).