The Impact of Dairy Imports on Performance of Domestic Dairy Industries: A Case of Tanzania Milk Processing Plants

This study analyses how dairy imports affects the performance of domestic dairy industries. It covers the period from 1980 to 2009. It employs a time series regression analysis in which the performance of domestic dairy industries is assumed to be determined by quantities of dairy imports in the domestic market, price of dairy products in the world market, milk collections and cost of production. The STATA computer package was used to analyze quantitative data. The empirical results indicate that, quantities of dairy imports, milk collections and production cost have impact on performance of domestic dairy industries during the sample period. While the cost of production contributed significantly to the decrease in plants performance, price of dairy products in the world market is not a significant variable to influence the actual performance of domestic dairy industries. Future development of the milk processing sector should stress on sustainable production systems of high productivity conducted on commercial basis in order to contribute more significantly to the national income