Tanzania’s Improved Cookstove Market: Demand, Policy Support, Carbon Finance and Import Taxes

Tanzania is becoming one of East Africa’s most interesting markets for improved cookstoves. The opportunity is not driven by retail demand alone. Government clean-cooking targets, international development funding, carbon-credit projects and private project developers are increasingly shaping how clean cooking solutions are financed, distributed and scaled.

For manufacturers of wood, charcoal and pellet stoves, this creates a market that is especially well suited to large-volume project procurement. The commercial question is therefore broader than “How many stoves can be sold?” It is also about how manufacturers can support carbon projects, meet technical standards, manage import costs and, over time, respond to growing local-content requirements.

Key takeaway: Tanzania is attractive for a “carbon project developer + improved biomass stove + large - scale procurement” model. For a shipment with FOB value of USD 10,000 and assumed freight + insurance of USD 1,000, the report estimates standard import taxes and statutory customs charges at about USD 3,608.

1. Market demand is large — and the gap is still significant

Tanzania’s National Clean Cooking Strategy 2024–2034 places clean cooking high on the national energy agenda. Improved biomass cookstoves sit alongside LPG and electric cooking in the transition road map, with a national goal of reaching 80% clean-cooking access by 2034.

The market gap remains substantial. The figures compiled in the underlying report show clean-cooking coverage rising from 16% in 2022 to 28.6% by March 2026. That is meaningful progress, but it also means that more than 70% of the population had not yet fully transitioned to clean cooking at that point.

Firewood and charcoal remain important household fuels, especially in rural areas. This matters because a rapid, universal shift from traditional biomass directly to LPG or electric cooking is unlikely in the short term.

In practice, several pathways may coexist for years:

· traditional three-stone fires and basic charcoal stoves;

· higher-efficiency biomass cookstoves;

· LPG and electric cooking solutions.

For manufacturers of efficient wood, charcoal and pellet stoves, the near-term opportunity is therefore not simply about competing with LPG or eCooking. It is also about replacing inefficient traditional stoves with better-performing, safer and more measurable technologies.

Household-level project interaction and stove introduction in a community setting. 

End-user context showing how improved cookstoves fit into daily household life.

2. Why carbon-project demand may be more important than retail alone

Tanzania already has an established cookstove carbon-project ecosystem. According to the figures in the source report, the country had 23 registered cookstove carbon projects, including 18 Gold Standard projects and 5 VCS projects, involving 12 project developers and approximately 1.447 million carbon credits issued cumulatively.

This changes the commercial route to market. A traditional model looks like this:

Manufacturer → Local wholesaler/importer → Household customer

A carbon-project model can look very different:

ICS manufacturer → Carbon project developer → Local distribution + MRV → Carbon credits → International carbon buyers

For manufacturers, this matters because carbon project developers do not evaluate a stove only on purchase price. They also care about efficiency, emissions, durability, lifespan, traceability, field performance, monitoring requirements and the reliability of long-term supply.

That creates an advantage for suppliers that can offer a complete technical and project-support package rather than simply the lowest FOB quotation.

3. Policy support is being backed by funding

The Tanzanian clean-cooking push is not limited to strategy documents. The underlying report highlights several funding signals that make the market more commercially relevant.

· In June 2026, the EU announced a €30 million investment in Tanzania’s clean-cooking sector.

· UNCDF’s CookFund had supported related businesses through 102 grants, reaching more than 413,000 households and about 1.94 million people.

· The same programme had supported 961 businesses and 45 public institutions, with estimated avoided emissions of more than 3.8 million tonnes of CO₂e.

· The Tanzania Clean Cooking Project (TCCP), managed by AECF, was also providing matching grants and technical assistance to clean-cooking businesses.

For stove manufacturers, the implication is clear: the most valuable prospects may not be conventional importers. They may instead be carbon project developers, NGOs, climate-finance companies, clean- cooking programs, results-based-finance recipients and Article 6 developers.

Project staff conducting field observation, data collection and user assessment.

Close-up demonstration of an improved cookstove in use during community engagement.

4. Large-scale projects are real — but local content is becoming more important

UpEnergy provides a useful example. The report notes plans to distribute approximately 425,000 fuel- efficient cookstoves in Tanzania, alongside Article 6-related authorization and investment in a cookstove manufacturing facility in Dar es Salaam.

This sends two important signals to international manufacturers:

· Carbon projects can create demand at a scale of hundreds of thousands of stoves.

· Large projects may increasingly expect local manufacturing, local assembly and local employment.

For a Chinese manufacturer, the long-term strategy may therefore evolve from finished-stove exports toward a more flexible model:

Finished stove export → SKD/CKD supply → Local assembly in Tanzania

This does not mean finished-stove exports will disappear. It means suppliers that can support both finished products and local assembly may be better positioned for larger and longer-term projects.

5. Technical compliance and project readiness matter

For project procurement, efficiency claims alone are not enough. A stronger offer should include documented testing and a clear quality-control package. The source report refers to Tanzanian standards aligned with international cookstove testing, including:

For carbon-project customers, a strong technical package may include:

· ISO-aligned efficiency and emissions test reports;

· CO and particulate-matter performance data;

· fuel-consumption data and expected fuel savings;

· durability and expected product lifetime;

· serial numbers or QR-based traceability;

· production batch records and quality-control documentation;

· warranty terms and after-sales support;

· data that can support monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV).

6. Import tax: HS 7321.19.00

The report uses HS code 732119000, commonly expressed in the EAC tariff format as 7321.19.00 — “Other, including appliances for solid fuel.” This is the classification used in the report for non-electric wood- and charcoal-burning stoves.

The key point is that the report applies a 10% basic import duty for ordinary finished stoves imported into Tanzania. It also notes that a higher 35% treatment reported for Kenya should not automatically be applied to Tanzania.

7. Worked example: FOB USD 10,000

Import duty is calculated from CIF, not FOB alone. Therefore, a complete estimate needs freight and insurance. Using the same assumption as the source report:

Estimated taxes and statutory customs charges:

Practical estimate: FOB USD 10,000 + USD 1,000 freight/insurance → CIF USD 11,000 → approximately USD 3,608 in standard import taxes and statutory customs charges.

After these taxes and charges, the value reaches approximately USD 14,608. However, this is still not the final warehouse landed cost. It normally excludes clearing-agent fees, port charges, TBS/PVoC-related costs, storage or demurrage, and domestic transport within Tanzania.

8. VAT can materially change the real cost

A crucial point for project developers is that import VAT may not always be a permanent cost. If the Tanzanian importing entity is properly VAT-registered and the imported stoves are used in a taxable business, the report notes that import VAT may be claimed as input VAT, subject to the applicable rules.

That means project developers should ask a simple but important question:

Is the Tanzanian importing entity VAT-registered and able to claim import VAT as input VAT?

There may also be project-specific VAT exemptions. The source report notes that certain governmentfunded, donor-funded, NGO or strategic projects may qualify where the relevant agreement and official approvals provide for an exemption.

However, a clean-cookstove project should not be assumed to be automatically tax-exempt. Until the importer can provide a formal exemption certificate or relevant approval, the safer commercial approach is to quote and budget using the normal tax treatment.

9. What this means for cookstove manufacturers

The strongest opportunity in Tanzania is not simply to export a stove. It is to become part of a project delivery system.

High-efficiency biomas s stoves + carbon finance + international project funding + local distribution + MRV + local assembly

For manufacturers targeting this market, five capabilities are especially valuable:

· Project-ready technical documentation, not just product brochures.

· Reliable large-volume production and quality consistency.

· Support for traceability and MRV requirements.

· Flexible supply options, including finished products and SKD/CKD.

· A clear understanding of import taxes, VAT treatment and project-specific exemptions.

The ideal sales conversation with a Tanzanian carbon project developer should therefore go beyond FOB price. A stronger proposal can combine stove price, shipping assumptions, estimated taxes, landed-cost scenarios, test reports, product lifetime, warranty, serialisation/MRV support and an optional local-assembly pathway.

Conclusion 

Tanzania offers a compelling combination of high unmet demand, national policy support, climate-finance activity and an established carbon-project ecosystem. The market can support large orders, but competition will increasingly be shaped by technical credibility, project readiness and local-content expectations.

For international cookstove manufacturers, the winning position is likely to be broader than “supplier.” The more valuable role is that of a project partner: a company that can provide efficient stoves, dependable production, verified performance, cost transparency, MRV-friendly traceability and a realistic path toward local assembly when project scale requires it.

Fieldwork and stakeholder engagement reinforce the practical, community-based nature of clean-cooking deployment.

Data note: This article has been edited from the supplied market report. The market figures, tariff assumptions and tax example reflect that report and should be reconfirmed with the relevant Tanzanian authorities and the importer’s customs/tax adviser before a transaction.

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SSM ECO has been 46 years in clean cooking stove area , the product range including wood/charcoal/pellet/ institutional stoves, with annual production capacity to 2 million pcs, we work closely with international energy companies, carbon project developers,NGOs, Redcross to promote sustainable cooking solution, realizing carbon emission reduction.

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