That dollar amount reflects a 93.8% boost from $4.15 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the value of Ugandan exports accelerated by 27.5% compared to $6.31 billion starting from 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Ugandan shilling depreciated by -1% against the US dollar since 2020 and diluted by -0.8% from 2023 to 2024. Uganda’s weaker local currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
Uganda’s Top Trade Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 83% of products exported from Uganda was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (32.5% of the Ugandan total), Kenya (7.3%), Hong Kong (6.5%), South Sudan (6.1%), Italy (6%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.9%), India (5.7%), Germany (3.7%), Rwanda (3.3%), Netherlands (2.2%), Tanzania (2.1%) and the United States of America (1.7%).
From a continental perspective, 50% of Uganda’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 29.9% was sold to importers in Africa. Uganda shipped another 18.1% worth of goods to customers based in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.8%), Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in Oceania (0.1%), then Latin America (0.01%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Uganda’s population of 46.6 million people, its total $8 billion in 2024 exports translates to approximately $170 for every resident in the central eastern African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $140 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Uganda’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Ugandan global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uganda.
- Gems, precious metals: US$3.4 billion (42% of total exports)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $1.6 billion (20.3%)
- Cocoa: $306.7 million (3.8%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $187 million (2.3%)
- Iron, steel: $177.9 million (2.2%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $166.5 million (2.1%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $142.2 million (1.8%)
- Fish: $139.7 million (1.7%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $118.7 million (1.5%)
- Vegetables: $114.1 million (1.4%)
Uganda’s top 10 exports approached four-fifths (79.2%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Cocoa was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 116.9% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was sugar including sugar confectionery via a 95% advance.
Uganda’s shipments of coffee, tea and spices posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 52.5%.
The lone decliner among Uganda’s top 10 export categories was beverages, spirits and vinegar, recording a -7.3% year-over-year drop.
From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, unwrought gold represents Uganda ’s most valuable exported product at 42% of the country’s total. In second place was coffee (19.3%) trailed by cocoa beans (3.8%), sugar (2%), processed petroleum oils (1.7%), ceramic flags, tiles and cubes (1.2%), fish fillets and pieces (1.1%), hydraulic cements (also 1.1%), cereal flours excluding wheat or meslin (0.9%), then dried shelled vegetables (also 0.9%).
Products Generating Uganda’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Ugandan product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Coffee, tea, spices: US$1.6 billion (Up by 53% since 2023)
- Cocoa: $301.3 million (Up by 119.9%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $133.5 million (Up by 9%)
- Fish: $127.7 million (Up by 3.4%)
- Gems, precious metals: $105.3 million (Down by -67.7%)
- Wood: $93.4 million (Down by -26.5%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $84.2 million (Up by 1433.6%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $73.9 million (Down by -14.2%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $73.4 million (Up by 6.5%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $67.8 million (Down by -26.6%)
Uganda has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coffee, tea and spices notably vanilla. In turn, these cashflows indicate Uganda’s strong competitive advantages under the coffee, tea and spices product category.
Products Causing Uganda’s Worst Trade Deficits
Uganda incurred an overall -US$5.8 billion trade deficit for 2024. That dollar amount results from a 5.8% expansion from -$5.5 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Uganda that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Uganda’s goods trail Ugandan importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2 billion (Up by 2.7% since 2023)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.1 billion (Up by 23.9%)
- Vehicles: -$744.5 million (Down by -2.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$613.6 million (Up by 18.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$573.2 million (Up by 15.2%)
- Iron, steel: -$422.7 million (Up by 13.3%)
- Cereals: -$397 million (Up by 85.6%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$319 million (Down by -32.4%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$306 million (Up by 30.8%)
- Other chemical goods: -$247.1 million (Down by -0.5%)
Uganda has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for mineral fuels including oil historically for refined petroleum oils, petroleum gas, coal and petroleum jelly.
Ugandan Export Companies
Not one Ugandan corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists international exports-related companies from Uganda. Selected examples are shown below.
- Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Limited (pharmaceuticals)
- Kakira Sugar Works (sugar)
- Kinyara Sugar Works Limited (sugar)
- Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited (coffee)
- Sango Bay Estates Limited (sugar)
- Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (sugar)
- Uganda Air Cargo (industrial transportation)
- Uganda Virus Research Institute (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology)
In macroeconomic terms, Uganda’s total exported goods represent 4.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($171.8 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 4.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 4.3% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Uganda’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Uganda’s unemployment rate averaged 2.9% for 2024, up from average 2.8% one year earlier according to Trading Economics metrics.
Uganda’s capital city is Kampala, a historical name that refers to “where the king goes hunting”.
See also Kenya’s Top 10 Exports, Togo’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports, Top African Export Countries and United States Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Africa: Uganda. Accessed on July 29, 2025
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Uganda. Accessed on July 29, 2025
Forbes 2024 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 29, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 29, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 29, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 29, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 29, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Uganda. Accessed on July 29, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 29, 2025
Wikipedia, Uganda. Accessed on July 29, 2025