The decline is attributed to lower export earnings from coffee and mineral products
The Ministry of Finance has revealed that in November 2024, Uganda recorded a drop in its export earnings to a tune of Shs263.319Bn.
The details are contained in the Performance of Economy report for December 2024 which indicated that export earnings in November 2024, reduced by 9.7 percent to US$672.62 million (Shs 2.451Trn) from US$744.86 million (Shs2.715Trn) in October 2024.
“This decline was mainly attributed to lower export earnings from coffee and mineral products, among others during the month. Coffee export earnings declined by 21.7 percent to US$108.91 million (Shs396.983),in November 2024, from US$139.05 million (Shs506.845Bn) in October 2024. This was due to a reduction in coffee export volumes and a reduction in the international coffee prices between the two months. The reduced volumes signal the start of the biannual off year cycle,” read in part the report.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the Middle East remained the biggest destination of Uganda’s exports, accounting for 35.4 percent of the total exports in November 2024. Within the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates accounted for 97.6 percent of Uganda’s exports to the region.
Other notable destinations for Uganda’s exports were the EAC, Asia and European Union, which accounted for 30.2 percent, 13.7 percent and 13.0 percent of Uganda’s exports respectively. Within the East African Community region, D.R. Congo, Kenya and South Sudan took the largest share accounting for 33.6 percent, 24.0 percent and 21.4 percent respectively.
Relatedly, the Ministry also revealed that the value of merchandise imports declined by Shs681.792Bn representing a 14.6 percent decline, from US$1,277.91Bn (Shs4.687Trn) in October 2024 to USD1,092.03Bn (Shs4.005Trn) in November 2024.
Government attributed the decline to lower volumes of formal private sector imports particularly; mineral products (excluding petroleum products); petroleum products, wood & wood products, machinery equipment, vehicles & accessories, base metals & their products, among others during the month.
On the origin of Uganda’s imports, Asia remained the largest source of Uganda’s imports, accounting for 36.5 percent of the total imports in November 2024. Within Asia, the leading source was China accounting for 53.1 percent of the total exports from the region.
Other notable sources of Uganda’s imports were EAC, Rest of Africa and Middle East accounting for 25.3 percent, 16.8 percent and 11.0 percent of the total imports during the month of November 2024, respectively.
