That estimated dollar amount reflects a -28.2% reduction from $3.1 billion five years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, the value of Ugandan exports fell by -44.1% compared to $3.97 billion for 2021.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, the Ugandan shilling appreciated by 1% against the US dollar since 2018 but diluted by -2.9% from 2021 to 2022. Uganda’s weaker local currency since 2021 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Uganda’s Top Trade Partners
The latest available country-specific data is from 2021. Those statistics show that 83% of products exported from Uganda was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (26.8% of the Ugandan total), Kenya (13.3%), South Sudan (12.2%), Democratic Republic of Congo (8.6%), Italy (5.3%), Germany (3.3%), Tanzania (2.7%), Netherlands (2.6%), Belgium (2.2%), India (2.1%), United States of America (1.9%) and Burundi (1.8%).
From a continental perspective, 44.8% of Uganda exports by value was delivered to African countries while 34.9% was sold to Asian importers. Uganda shipped another 18.1% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (2.2%), Oceania’s Australia, New Zealand and Fiji (0.1%), then Latin America (0.05%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Uganda’s population of 43.7 million people, its total $2.22 billion in 2022 exports translates to approximately $50 for every resident in the central eastern African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $40 per capita one year earlier during 2021.
Uganda’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Ugandan global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uganda.
- Coffee, spices: US$864.3 million (39% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $307.5 million (13.9%)
- Fish: $139.4 million (6.3%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $102.5 million (4.6%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $78.3 million (3.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $63.1 million (2.8%)
- Wood: $58.9 million (2.7%)
- Oil seeds: $52.1 million (2.4%)
- Cocoa: $50.4 million (2.3%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $49.2 million (2.2%)
Uganda’s top 10 exports generated about four-fifths (79.7%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Pharmaceuticals represent the fastest growers among the top 10 export categories, up by 65.6% since 2021.
In second place for improving export sales were Ugandan exports of wood which gained 38.7%.
Uganda’s international shipments of fish posted the third-fastest advance, up by 20% year over year.
The leading decliner among Uganda’s top 10 export categories was for gems and precious metals which fell -70.3% from 2021. That product category was pulled down mostly by lower revenues for Ugandan gold shipments.
From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, coffee represents Uganda ’s most valuable exported product at 35.8% of the country’s total. In second place was unwrought gold (13.8%) trailed by fish fillets and pieces (3.1%), miscellaneous dried, salted or smoked fish (2.3%), cocoa beans (also 2.3%), unconcentrated and unsweetened milk (2.2%), sugar (also 2.2%), blood fractions including antisera (2%), vanilla (2%), then miscellaneous live plants (also 2%).
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, spices: US$858.6 million (Up by 5.4% since 2021)
- Gems, precious metals: $297.9 million (Down by -586%)
- Fish: $139 million (Up by 26.7%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $99 million (Up by 22.5%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $77.4 million (Up by 14.2%)
- Wood: $55.7 million (Up by 46.8%)
- Cocoa: $47.2 million (Down by -54.3%)
- Oil seeds: $42.6 million (Up by 65.6%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $30.8 million (Down by -54%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $22.7 million (Up by 23.8%)
Uganda has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coffee and spices, notably vanilla. In turn, these cashflows indicate Uganda’s strong competitive advantages under the coffee and spices product category.
Products Causing Uganda’s Worst Trade Deficits
Uganda incurred an overall -US$1.5 billion trade deficit for 2022. That estimated dollar amount results from a -71.4% reduction from -$5.1 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2021.
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.
- Machinery including computers: -US$458.1 million (Down by -22.8% since 2021)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$349.7 million (Down by -15.9%)
- Vehicles: -$298.9 million (Down by -55.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$255.7 million (Down by -38.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$153.2 million (Down by -64.4%)
- Iron, steel: -$139.9 million (Down by -72.6%)
- Other chemical goods: -$137.7 million (Down by -36.5%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$117.1 million (Down by -14.4%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$108.3 million (Up by 81.6%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: -$102 million (Down by -8.8%)
Uganda has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for machinery including computers.
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 1.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($132.4 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 1.4% for 2021. 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 4.28% for 2022, down modestly from an average 4.3% one year earlier according to research from Statista.
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 12, 2023
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Uganda. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Forbes 2022 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 12, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 12, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Uganda. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, Uganda. Accessed on July 12, 2023
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Kampala, Uganda. Accessed on July 12, 2023
