Kampala — Preliminary figures at the Uganda Export Promotions Board (UEPB) indicate that the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) is now the leading destination market of Uganda's merchandise exports toppling the European Union (EU) market.

Exports to COMESA countries resulted in total income in excess of US$506million compared to the European Union market which brought in slightly above US$324million. UEPB's executive director, Ms. Florence Kata said this is attributable to increased investments in re-exports and wholesale trade in manufactured merchandise.

Uganda's total export income grew from US$ 962 million in 2006 to over US$ 1.34 billion in the year under review, 2007. This was nearly a 40% rise. According to the central bank's Deputy Director Financial Markets, Stephen Kaboyo, the formal service exports in 2007 brought in about US$ 500 million while diaspora's remittances fetched US$ 785.88 million. This excellent performance is attributed to the world's continued growth in commodity prices especially for coffee and in food prices. There is also aggressive marketing for local industries to be outward looking and produce for the export market especially within the neighbouring countries. The performance too can be attributed to the relative peace, recovery and reconstruction in Southern Sudan. However, the formal merchandise imports cost the country more than it earned in formal exports. The total import bill for Uganda was US$5.5 billion while Uganda earned US$3.49 billion, indicating a deficit of US$2.1 billion.

Uganda's export trade with its neighbours Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and Tanzania fetched US$776 million.

In terms of individual countries' formal performance, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) topped Uganda's export destination list.

bringing in over $190m; followed by Sudan accounting for over $157 million. Kenya, DRC and Switzerland followed in that order and Rwanda was Uganda's sixth export destination.

Uganda's exports to Rwanda brought in over US$83 million while exports to Congo fetched US$100m in the year 2007.

However, the informal cross border exports to the COMESA region reflect higher figures than the formal. Notable here is the Sudan which tops in excess of US$456 million informally yet the formal exportation figure stands at just US$157 million.

Kata said though, much as these figures are good, they are not the best. For this reason, Uganda the board is setting up partnerships with international agencies to improve the value of Uganda's exports other than reliance on merchandise exports.

"Our export revenue target for the year 2009 is at least US$5 billion. We can achieve this if we add value to our exports other than exporting them in raw form. We want to unlock trade potential in the export market.