Middle East still Uganda’s biggest market for exports

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In July 2025, the Middle East remained Uganda’s largest export destination, accounting for 40.5% of the total market share, a new report shows.

The performance of the economy report for April 2025 indicates that at a country-specific level within the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates dominated, receiving 98.6% of Uganda’s exports to the region.

The East African Community (EAC) was the second largest destination, accounting for 25.0% of total exports, followed by the European Union (14.7%) and Asia (11.3%).

Within the EAC, the Democratic Republic of Congo maintained its position as the largest importer of Uganda’s merchandise, taking up 30.9% of the total exports.

This was followed by Kenya at 26.6% and Rwanda at 15.5%.

Origin of imports

In July 2025, Asia emerged as the largest source of imports for Uganda, accounting for 35.6% of the total import bill.

Within Asia, China, India and Japan were the dominant sources of Uganda’s imports from the region, accounting for 55.5%, 22.0% and 9.0% of this import bill, respectively.

Other notable sources of Uganda’s imports were the EAC, the Rest of Africa and Europe.

Union, which contributed 27.0%, 20.3% and 7.2% of total imports, respectively.

Within EAC, Tanzania and Kenya were the primary sources of Uganda’s imports, collectively accounting for 98.1% of the imports from the region.