In the last fiscal year, Uganda saw a notable increase in the value of its merchandise exports compared with the previous year.
According to a report from the country’s Ministry of Finance, Uganda experienced a 72% rise in merchandise export earnings.
The figures indicated that export revenue climbed from $844.60 million in January 2025 to $1,453.53 million by January 2026.
The ministry attributed this surge primarily to higher shipments of gold and coffee, alongside industrial products, electricity, beans, and oil re-exports, among other commodities.
“In January 2026, Uganda posted a merchandise trade surplus of $147.26 million. This improvement was largely supported by strong performance in gold and coffee exports, which together contributed $1,074.95 million in revenue for the month,” the report highlighted.
Gold export earnings, in particular, saw the most dramatic increase, rising 182.2% from $323.84 million in January 2025 to $913.95 million in January 2026.
Earlier reports indicated that Uganda’s gold exports had jumped from $1.26 billion in 2019 to $6.4 billion in 2025, representing more than a fivefold increase over six years and establishing gold as the nation’s top export commodity.
Despite the high export values, Uganda’s net gain from trade remains around $200 million.
Gold generates roughly $6.4 billion annually for Uganda, compared with $2.4 billion from coffee and about $700 million from cocoa.
Last year, gold exports grew by 75.8%, reaching approximately $5.8 billion, highlighting a rapid transformation in the country’s export structure as gold overtook coffee as the main source of foreign exchange.
Data from the Bank of Uganda showed shipments rose from around $3.3 billion in 2024, fueled largely by record global gold prices that attracted new market participants.
Reports from Sputnik noted that Uganda has benefited from a wave of central banks increasing their gold reserves in a bid to diversify away from traditional reserve currencies.