Uganda’s exports to regional and foreign markets have intensified, generating significant gains for some sectors in the country.

Results from the recent Presidential Export Awards for 2007 showed exporters of agricultural related products, construction materials and consumer goods recording huge earnings.

The increasing demand in regional markets such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Southern Sudan, plus the rising prices for some commodities on the world market largely contributed to Uganda’s good performance.

Strong earnings in the agricultural sector were largely reflected by coffee exports, which, however, reduced from 4.2 million bags in the period 1997/98 to 2.4 million bags by the end of 2006, representing a 43 per cent drop mainly because of the coffee wilt disease.

Coffee exports however experienced a slight increase in 2007, hitting 2.7 million bags.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) believes the rapid rise in commodities, especially from Africa, has been driven by overwhelming demand from China and India for industrial purposes and limited supply caused by low investment in production facilities.

According to Unctad’s Trade and Development Report for 2008 growing demand encountered supply constraints because, during the period of relatively low prices in the 1990s, investment in new capacity has been low in the oil and mineral sectors.

The report said although investment in exploration and new production capacity has increased since 2002, it has met with severe technological and geological constraints, so that the supply response so far has been week.

Uganda is now plans to improve in its week sectors such as honey. It is currently lading the group of the few African countries that have been allowed to export honey to the European Union Market out of the 27 that applied.