Middle East still Uganda exports top destination

The Middle East remained Uganda’s largest export destination in March this year, accounting for 37.1% of the total market share, a new report shows.

The performance of the economy report for April 2025 indicates that at country country-specific level within the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates dominated, receiving 97.5% of Uganda’s exports to the region.

The East African Community (EAC) was the second-largest destination, accounting for 20.1% of total exports, followed by the European Union (18.7%) and Asia (16.9%).

Within the EAC, the Democratic Republic of Congo emerged as the largest importer of Uganda’s merchandise, taking up 43.3% of the total exports.

This was followed by South Sudan at 32.3% and Kenya at 15.0%.

Uganda’s merchandise exports increased by 40.6% in March from a year earlier.

The exports reached $899.10 million (about shillings 3.269 trillion) in March 2025, up from $639.63 million (about shillings 2.325 trillion) in March 2024.

This increase was mainly due to higher earnings from coffee, cocoa beans, mineral products, sugar, and fish and its products.

The report indicates that on a month-on-month basis, exports grew by 7.3%, from $838.18 million in February 2025 to $899.10 million in March 2025.