Uganda's Booming Coffee Exports Significantly Reduce Trade Deficit – CoffeeTalk

Uganda’s coffee export boom has significantly reduced its trade deficit, with the country also focusing on curbing imports. In February 2025, Uganda’s trade deficit dropped by 83.7% compared to the same month in 2024, with a decline in imports. The increase in export earnings, particularly from agricultural produce, led to a decrease in the country’s trade deficit from 271.1 million U.S. dollars to 44.26 million U.S. dollars. Coffee brought in 167 million U.S. dollars in export earnings, followed by crops like cocoa and tobacco. Other notable commodities contributing to growth in export earnings in February included mineral products and fish.

Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries announced that Uganda’s coffee exports increased by 6.99 percent in quantity and 70.71 percent in value from March 2024 to February 2025. The increase in coffee prices to five U.S. dollars per kilogram in February, compared to three U.S. dollars the same time last year, kept the books better balanced.

However, extreme weather conditions in Brazil and Vietnam, global producers of coffee, led to low volumes and an increase in the price of coffee on the international market. There are fears that the European Union deforestation regulation may disrupt the global coffee boom, but Uganda is keenly following up and ensuring it complies with strict environmental standards to maintain access to the lucrative market.

Trade experts believe Uganda can further reduce its import bill by adding value to its agricultural produce and using local content in its production. Uganda has also started an ambitious strategy of further reducing import through local manufacturing. It is expected that Uganda’s import bill will further reduce, driven by the oil and gas industry when the country begins producing its own oil by 2030.

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