Uganda
As a least-developed country (LDC), Uganda is a beneficiary of the EU's "Everything but Arms" (EBA) arrangement. The World Bank classifies Uganda as a low-income economy with a per-capita income of $1,002 in 2023. Total EU imports from Uganda amounted to a record €783 million in 2023, and preferential imports to €173 million.
What is the EBA?
The EBA arrangement covers all LDCs as classified by the United Nations. This arrangement enables duty-free and quota-free access for all products originating in LDCs except for arms and ammunition. Unlike beneficiaries of the Standard GSP and GSP+, LDCs are not excluded from the scheme if they benefit from other preferential arrangements or agreements with the EU.
At a glance: EU preferential imports from EBA beneficiary countries (2023, € million)
48.7M (2023)
Population
Presidential Republic
Government
5.3% (2023)
GDP Growth
5.4% (2023)
Inflation
$ 48.8B (2023)
GDP
Facts about Uganda's economy
Coffee Production
Uganda belongs to the world’s top ten coffee producers and exporters, with an annual production of 384,000 metric tons in 2023.
Export Products
Uganda's main export products are gold and a wide range of agricultural products, including coffee, maize, tea, cocoa beans, fish products, sesame and sunflower seeds, vanilla, flowers, and cotton.
Trade Partners
Uganda's most important trading partners are China (14% of total trade in 2023), the UAE (13%), and India (10%). Most imports originate from China (19%), the UAE (12%), and India (9%). The EU is the second most important market for Ugandan products, behind the UAE and ahead of India and Kenya.
Economic Structure
Although only contributing about 24% to GDP (2023), agriculture is the mainstay of Uganda's economy: it provides the livelihood for the majority of the population and contributes to reducing poverty in the country. The most important cash crops are cotton and coffee but also tea and flowers. The industrial sector remains small and reliant on imports. Activities concentrate on processing agricultural products (e.g. tea, tobacco, sugar, coffee, and cotton), beer brewing, construction materials, fertilisers, metals etc.
Usage of EBA Preferences
As most of Uganda's exports to the EU enter at zero duty under the EU's normal tariff regime, only about 19% are eligible for EBA preferences. The preference utilisation rate, which represents the ratio of preferential imports to GSP eligible imports, has consistently been high and stood at 92% in 2023.
Trade with the EU
Total trade with the EU amounted to € 1.5 billion in 2023. With a share of 9%, the EU is Uganda's fourth most important trading partner. About 15% of Ugandan products go to the EU market making it the second most important export destination.
Uganda and the EU
Imports from Uganda by product section (2023, € million)
Imports from Uganda over time (€ million)
UGANDA AND THE EU GSP
Economic Impact
19%
Share of Uganda's exports to the EU that were eligible for EBA preferences in 2023.
92%
Uganda's preference utilisation rate in 2023.
98%
Share of zero-duty imports from Uganda. Most imports are duty-free under normal EU tariffs.
Preference utilisation and export diversification
EU imports from Uganda (€ million)
Preference utilisation (%) vs. total eligible imports (in € million)
About 20% of the EU's imports from Uganda are eligible for EBA preferences; most other imports - notably coffee - are duty-free under the EU's normal tariffs. Preference-eligible imports decreased steadily from 2015 to 2020 but since then strongly increased again, reaching an all-time high in 2022 of €161 million (although dropping again in 2023). Since 2015, the preference utilisation rate consistently has been above 90%, although dropping slightly in recent years, from 99% in 2020 to 92% in 2023. This decrease is mostly the result of lower preference utilisation by the second most important product group after plants (cu flowers), fish, which dropped to 88% in 2023.
The largest product sections under EBA (€ million, 2023)
The two largest product sections traded under the EBA are plants (mostly cut flowers) and fish products; together, they accounted for 77% of all preferential imports from Uganda in 2023. Other agricultural products such as coffee, tea and spices, fruit and vegetables, and tobacco, are also important preferential imports. These product sections make considerable use of the duty-free access to the EU market.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
As a beneficiary of the EBA, Uganda is not required to ratify any conventions to be able to benefit from preferential access to the EU market. Nonetheless, the country has ratified all 27 international conventions listed in the GSP Regulation on human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance.
Core international conventions on human rights and labour standards
Ratified
- Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969)
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
- International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1976)
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981)
- Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987)
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)
- Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, No 29 (1930)
- Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, No 87 (1948)
- Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively, No 98 (1949)
- Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, No 100 (1951)
- Convention concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour, No 105 (1957)
- Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, No 111 (1958)
- Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, No 138 (1973)
- Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, No 182 (1999)
Additional Conventions
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973)
- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987)
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989)
- Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)
- Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000)
- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1998)
- United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961)
- United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971)
- United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988)
- United Nations Convention against Corruption (2004)
EU-Uganda Bilateral Development Cooperation
DG INTPA
Access all info about Uganda relations on the International Partnerships website.