Manufacturers told to produce quality goods for regional market

By Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye

The Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) has urged government to train local manufacturers on how to improve the quality of their products and make them competitive in the regional market.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Thursday, PSFU Executive Director, Gideon Badagawa said Ugandan products' quality is still very low compared to its counterparts in the region, explaining why local manufacturers have failed to fully penetrate the East African and international markets.

"Before government tells traders to export more to other countries in the region, there is need for quality improvement and this should be done through seminars and trainings," Badagawa said.

"We appreciate the fact that government has allocated sh500b in the 2015/16 budget to Uganda Development Bank for recapitalization, in an effort to support small and medium enterprises, this effort needs to be backed with trainings on how to produce high quality products."

Badagawa was speaking ahead of the 2015 International Trade Facilitation Expo slated for August 25-27 at the Uganda Manufacturers' Association showground in Lugogo.

The Fair is organized under the theme "Using information, Value Chains and Promotion of Standards for Export Competitiveness"

Uganda Baati the Marketing Manager Lukyamuzi Semakula said the high cost of production has made locally manufactured products too expensive and called for government intervention to enable them produce quality products at a relatively low cost.

"We cannot compromise the quality because we want to produce at low costs and sell cheaply because that is what our consumers can afford. Secondly, because of high production costs, our products are not competitive in the regional markets and this stifles our exports, " Semakula said.

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