On Saturday, July 27, Uganda revised the duty rate for manufacturers importing raw materials to the country as a way of industrialising the East African nation.
This was communicated through the East African Community (EAC) Gazette which indicated that the duty rate would be between zero and 10 per cent for various inputs and raw materials.
EAC Chairperson of Council of Ministers Deng Alor Kuol noted that should the manufactured goods be imported to Kenya, they would incur extra charges and levies as outlined in the Common External Tariff (CET).
Goods that will incur extra charges if exported to Kenya include; beverages and confectionaries, mattresses, furniture, speakers, cookers, textiles, footwear, packaging and printing materials, detergents, and toughened and laminated glass, doors, windows and mirrors.
Beverages and confectioneries will be relatively cheap in Uganda after Yoweri Museveni’s government handed a licence to six industries within the country to import yeast at a duty rate of 10 per cent.
“A remission of import duty is approved for Uganda up to June 30, 2025, to apply a duty rate of ten per cent for active yeast imported by manufacturers,” the EAC Gazette notice read in part.
“In the event that the above-finished products are sold in the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Kenya, such goods shall attract duties, levies and other charges provided in the EAC Common External Tariff.”
Additionally, Uganda communicated a zero per cent duty rate for mixtures of odoriferous substances and food flavours used in the making of beverages, confectionaries and spirits.
Uganda further revised the duty rate of raw materials and inputs used for the manufacture of mattresses.
Some of the mattress-making raw materials that will be imported duty-free include; Poly cotton mattress covers, Organic surface-active agents, Plain weave fabric of polyester staple fibres, and other reaction initiators, reaction accelerators and catalytic preparations.
For furniture, Museveni has given a duty reprieve for 9 industries importing fabric, mountings and fittings, nuts and screws, castor wheels, hinges, locks of a kind used for furniture and other assorted materials used in the making of furniture.
“A remission of import duty is approved for Uganda for the following assemblers on the specified quantities of raw materials and inputs for the assembly of speakers to apply a duty rate of zero per cent,” EAC Gazette noted on speakers.
“In the event that the finished products are sold in the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Burundi and the United Republic of Tanzania, such goods shall attract duties, levies and other charges provided in the EAC Common External Tariff.”
Unassembled cookers and ovens will also be imported duty-free to Uganda but an extra charge will be placed should the assembled product find its way to the Kenyan market.
Textile and footwear-making raw materials will also mostly attract a zero per cent duty rate in Uganda with clothes and shoes exported to Kenya sold at a higher price despite the common EAC free trade area.
This will also be the case for packaging and printing materials, detergents and toughened and laminated glass which will bear the stamp ‘Made in Uganda’.
