The Middle East was the largest destination of Uganda’s exports in March 2024, accounting for 41.8% of the total market share, a new report says.

The report on the performance of the economy for April 2024 was released by the finance ministry on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.

“At country specific level, the United Arab Emirates received 98.2% of the exports to the region, predominantly consisting of gold exports,” it says.

Other notable destinations for Uganda’s exports during the month were the East African Community (EAC), European Union and Asia, which accounted for 29.6%, 14.3% and 9.7% of the total exports, respectively.

Within EAC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo emerged as the largest importer of Uganda’s merchandise, taking up 31.1% of the total exports.

The report said this was closely followed by Kenya at 26.8% and South Sudan at 25.1%.

During March 2024, Uganda’s merchandise imports increased by 14.1% to $1,037.84 million from $909.54 million in February 2024. This was mainly attributed to an increase in private sector imports particularly vegetable products, beverages, fats and oil; mineral products, excluding petroleum products, as well as plastics, rubber and related products.

Similarly, a year-on-year comparison showed that the import bill grew by 13.1% from $917.60 million in March 2023 to $1,037.84 million in March 2024. This growth was on account of increased import volumes for vegetable products, beverages, fats and oil; base metals and their products; machinery equipment, vehicles and accessories, among others, the report said.

The EAC emerged as the largest source of Uganda’s imports, constituting 36.8% of the total imports in March 2024. Within the EAC, Tanzania stood out as the biggest source, accounting for 80.2% of the imports from the region, with the main commodities being gold and rice.

Other notable sources of imports in March 2024 included Asia, the Middle East and the rest of Africa accounting for 30.5%, 11.7% and 11.2% of the total imports, respectively.

In March 2024, Uganda registered trade surpluses with the Middle East and European Union, amounting to $143.77 million and $14.89 million, respectively.

Conversely, the report said, trade deficits were recorded with Asia, EAC, rest of Africa and the rest of Europe of $255.02 million, $193.75 million, $98.61 million, and $1.38 million, respectively during the month.