Export earnings fall by half

Decline. Fish reported a decline in export earnings, falling to $11.39m for the year ended April to $18.87m in March. PHOTO BY EDGAR R BATTE

Uganda’s export earnings for the year ended April suffered a sharp decline, falling by almost 50 per cent, according to data from Bank of Uganda (BoU).
Export receipts, according to a BoU report released early this month, fell from $604.4m (Shs2.2 trillion) for the year ended March to $307.6m (Shs1.14 trillion) for the year ended April.
Coffee and non-coffee exports both suffered a sharp decline with coffee exports dropping to 306,315 kilogramme bags, down from 348,230 kilogramme bags, which indicated a 13 per cent drop.
Non-traditional exports earnings fell to $235.2m (Shs874.9b) in the period under review down from $525.8m (Shs1.9 trillion).
Gold, tea, coffee, beans, fish, tobacco sorghum and simsim all saw sharp declines.
Gold, which has for months topped Uganda’s export earnings declined to 2,198 kilogrammes from 8,692 kilogrammes in the period under review.
Gold exports have been growing since the launch of the African Gold Refinery in February.
However, there have been reports of gold smuggling in the country, which could have affected its performance of the sector.
Coffee exports, the report shows, fell in both volume and value, fetching $30.1m for the year ended April compared to $34m.
However, Uganda saw an increase in cement, beer, sugar, edible oil and electricity exports.
For instance, a total of 35,287 tonnes of cement up from 30,969 tonnes were exported in the period.
Uganda’s cement production is nearing seven million tonnes per annum with 2.4 million tonnes consumed locally.
Much of the country’s products are exported to DR Congo, South Sudan and Rwanda.
Other commodities which showed an increase in revenue were vanilla, fruits and vegetables, maize and cotton.