That estimated dollar amount reflects a -42.1% reduction from $2.9 billion 5 years earlier in 2017.
Year over year, the value of Ugandan exports depreciated by -59.5% compared to the $4.15 billion for 2020.
Uganda’s 3 most valuable exported goods in 2021 were coffee, cocoa beans and sugar. Combined, that trio of top Ugandan exports approached half (45%) of the African nation’s total exports by value.
Uganda’s Top Trade Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 87.2% of products exported from Uganda were bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (44.5% of Uganda’s global total), Kenya (11.2%), South Sudan (8.6%), Democratic Republic of the Congo, (6.4%), Italy (3.3%), Tanzania (2.29%), Germany (2.26%), Sudan (2.17%), Netherlands (1.9%), Belgium (1.7%), Burundi (1.41%) and the United States of America (also 1.41%).
From a continental perspective, 51.6% of Uganda’s exports by value were delivered to Asian countries while 34.2% were sold to importers also in Africa. Uganda shipped another 12.6% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to North America (1.6%), Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (0.1%) then Australia and New Zealand in Oceania (0.01%).
Given Uganda’s population of 42.5 million people, its total $1.68 billion in 2021 exports translates to approximately $40 for every resident in the central eastern African country. That dollar metric is much less than the average $100 per capita one year earlier during 2020.
Uganda’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Ugandan global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uganda.
- Coffee, tea, spices: US$650 million (38.7% of total exports)
- Fish: $115 million (6.8%)
- Cocoa: $99.5 million (5.9%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $82.8 million (4.9%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $81.7 million (4.9%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $64.3 million (3.8%)
- Oil seeds: $55.2 million (3.3%)
- Vegetables: $52.7 million (3.1%)
- Iron, steel: $50.3 million (3%)
- Wood: $48.8 million (2.9%)
Uganda’s top 10 exports accounted for 77.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Live trees, plants and cut flowers represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 52.1% from 2020 to 2021.
In second place for improving export sales was the coffee, tea and spices product category via an 8.2% advance. That increase was propelled by higher international revenues for Uganda’s exported coffee and the spice vanilla.
Uganda’s shipments of dairy, eggs and honey posted the third-fastest appreciation up by 6.4%.
The leading decliner among Uganda’s top 10 export categories were for the metals iron and steel, thanks to a -26.6% year-over-year drop.
From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, coffee represents Uganda ’s most valuable exported product at 35.3% of the country’s total. In second place were cocoa beans (5.9%) trailed by sugar (3.8%), fish fillets and pieces (2.9%), miscellaneous dried, salted or smoked fish (2.9%), miscellaneous live plants (also 2.9%), oil seeds (2.5%), unconcentrated and unsweetened milk (2.4%), unmanufactured tobacco including tobacco waste (2.2%) then fresh or dried flowers (2.1%).
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$644 million (Up by 10.7% since 2020)
- Fish: $110.9 million (Down by -1.6%)
- Cocoa: $96.3 million (Up by 2.3%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $81.5 million (Up by 53.1%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $76.5 million (Up by 5.6%)
- Wood: $46.3 million (Up by 2.3%)
- Oil seeds: $40.3 million (Up by 20%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $36.8 million (Up by 1.2%)
- Vegetables: $23.5 million (Down by -30.8%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $20.8 million (Reversing a -$19.9 million deficit)
Uganda has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coffee, tea and spices. 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 -$3.7 billion trade deficit for 2021. That estimated dollar amount results from a -10.4% reduction from -$4.1 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2020.
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.
- Pharmaceuticals: -US$575.5 million (Up by 78% since 2020)
- Vehicles: -$521.4 million (Up by 3.8%)
- Machinery including computers: -$492.8 million (Down by -14.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$367.7 million (Down by -7.5%)
- Cereals: -$317.6 million (Up by 96%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$180.6 million (Down by -49.3%)
- Other chemical goods: -$164.7 million (Down by -16.2%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$148.8 million (Up by 285.7%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: -$129.4 million (Up by 147.7%)
- Iron, steel: -$128 million (Down by -56.2%)
Uganda has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for pharmaceuticals.
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 1.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2021 ($116.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2021 compares to 3.6% for 2020. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing 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 2021, up from an average 2.8% one year earlier according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund.
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 19, 2022
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Uganda. Accessed on July 19, 2022
Forbes 2021 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 19, 2022
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity)
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 19, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 19, 2022
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 19, 2022
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Uganda. Accessed on July 19, 2022
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 19, 2022
Wikipedia, Uganda. Accessed on July 19, 2022
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Kampala, Uganda. Accessed on July 19, 2022
