Uganda’s export receipts improve 16.2 percent in January

By George Mangula

Export receipts improved by 16.2%, from US$ 326.75 million in December 2019 to US$ 379.67 million in January 2020, according to the Performance of the Economy Report for February 2020.

According to the report published by the Ministry of Finance, several commodities including coffee, maize and cocoa beans registered higher receipts. Coffee recorded the highest growth, owing to rises in both the volume and price; increasing by 51.2% from US$ 31.87 million in December 2019 to US$ 48.19 million in January 2020.

A comparison between January 2019 and January 2020 reveals an even greater increase in export receipts, from US$ 304.23 million to US$ 379.67 million. Several exports such as coffee, cotton, maize and cocoa beans registered growth in their respective earnings following increases in their export volumes.

In January 2020, 29.3% of Ugandan exports went to the Middle East, 28.7% to the EAC and 17.5% to the Rest of Africa. The share of exports to the Middle East increased from 22.6% in January 2019 to 29.3% in January 2020. Over the same period, the share of exports to the the East African Community (EAC) declined from 29.5% to 28.7%. At country specific level, United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the major destination for Uganda`s exports. Exports to UAE grew by 66% from US$ 65 million in January 2019 to US$ 107.86 million in January 2020.

Imports

The report show that the value of merchandise imports increased by 6.5% from US$ 549.66 million in December 2019 to US$ 585.31 million in January 2020 due to an increase in both Government and private sector imports. Government imports rose by 93.8% as both project and non-project imports recorded increases, whereas; private sector imports improved by 3.4% following increases in both oil and non-oil imports.

In particular, the categories of merchandise imports that posted the largest increments were; base metals & their products; machinery equipment, vehicles & accessories; miscellaneous manufactured articles prepared foodstuff, beverages and tobacco. On a year to year basis, the total import bill increased by 12.8% from US$ 519.11 million in January 2019 to US$ 585.31 million in January 2020. The rise in imports is attributed to an increase in both Government and private sector imports.

During the month of January 2020, 39.4% of Uganda`s imports originated from Asia, 18.8% from the EAC region and 18.4% from the Middle East. Total imports from Asia amounted to US$ 230.45 million in January 2020, of which China contributed 46.9%, while India and Japan contributed 25.9% and 11.3%, respectively. In the EAC region, 93.5% of imports were sourced from Kenya and Tanzania.