EXPORTS for the year 2007 fetched $3.4b (about sh5,644b) from $2.1b (sh3,486b) the previous year, the executive director of the Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB) has said.
�The growth in the export earnings by 39% is due to the board�s focus on supporting the exporting companies to be more competitive. UEPB also focused on export development plans,� Florence Kata explained.
The top 10 exports were coffee, fish, tea, cotton, tobacco, flowers, fruits, hides and skins, maize and beans. She said merchandise exports grew by 39% to $1.34b from $962m.
Service exports like tourism and education fetched $520.83m, while labour remittances fetched $785.88m. Kata said informal border trade between Uganda and her five neighbours fetched $776m from $231m in 2006, an increase of 236%.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) remained Uganda�s largest market, accounting for 39% of the exports followed by the European Union at 28%.
The Middle and Far East have proved to be the fastest growing export destinations in volume and value, accounting for 21%, while the remaining 9% was spread among the rest of Africa, Europe and the US.
�The continued growth is partly explained by recovery in the prices of commodities internationally, especially coffee and increasing food prices globally,� she said at the President�s Exporters Awards at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
Other factors that led to the increase in export earnings were the heightened export development and promotion efforts driven by coherent relationships between the public and the private sector. Political stability in the region and the consistent government drive for an export-led economy also played a part.
-- Jean-Louis Kayitenkore Procurement Consultant Gsm: +250-08470205 Home: +250-55104140 P.O. Box 3867 Kigali-Rwanda East Africa Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com Skype ID : Kayisa66
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