Commodities & markets
Eight commodity groups.
Each group below is exported from Uganda today. For each: the grades buyers write into contracts, the destination markets, the harvest window, and the requirement that most often disqualifies a supplier.
Coffee
Arabica and Robusta. EU buyers now need the plot behind every bag. Specialty buyers need a cupping score they can trace to a lot.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Robusta Screen 18, 15 and 12
- Arabica Bugisu AA, A and B from Mount Elgon
- Wugar (washed) and Drugar (natural)
- Moisture at or below 12.5%
Where it goes
- Italy, Germany and the wider EU
- Sudan and North Africa
- India
- Specialty roasters buying to a cupping score
Season
Robusta — main crop
Arabica — Mount Elgon
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
The plot boundary behind every bag. An EU roaster cannot buy without it. Specialty buyers additionally ask which lot a cupping score came from, which requires the score to be recorded against the lot rather than the shipment.
Cocoa
Fermentation and moisture spec, plus EUDR geolocation on every farm in the container.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Grade I — well fermented, low defect count
- Fermentation above 65%, cut-test verified
- Moisture at or below 7.5%
- Bean count around 100 per 100g
Where it goes
- Netherlands and Belgium
- Germany
- Buyers running Cocoa Life or Cocoa Horizons programmes
Season
Main crop
Light crop
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
One unmapped farm in the container. The EU statement the buyer files covers the whole shipment, so a single missing boundary holds all of it. Fermentation that varies between deliveries is the second requirement.
Sesame & pulses
Consistent grading is the whole discount. Gulf, Indian and EU processors pay for a grade they can rely on twice.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Whitish sesame, 99% purity, moisture at or below 6%
- Free fatty acid under 2%
- Pigeon pea, green gram and cowpea to buyer sample
- Machine-cleaned and colour-sorted for the premium books
Where it goes
- Turkey and Israel
- Gulf processors
- India and China
- EU confectionery and tahini buyers
Season
Sesame
Pulses — two seasons
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
Repeating the same grade across containers. A processor blending sesame into a line needs the second container to match the first. Proving that requires graded records across more than one delivery, and the discount reflects the uncertainty where they do not exist.
Fresh produce
Avocado, mango, passion fruit, chillies, green beans. Phytosanitary integrity and a cold chain you can evidence.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Hass and Fuerte avocado, count sizes 16 to 30
- Dry matter above 23% for Hass
- Fine and extra-fine green beans
- Bird's eye chillies, mango and passion fruit to buyer sample
Where it goes
- Netherlands and the UK
- Middle East
- Regional supermarkets
Season
Hass avocado
Passion fruit — year round
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
Evidence of the cold chain rather than the cold chain itself. A rejection argument turns on what temperature the fruit held between the store and the port, which requires a record rather than a practice. GLOBALG.A.P. certification is the second requirement.
Spices & aromatics
Vanilla, cardamom, ginger. Origin proof is the difference between commodity price and specialty price.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Bourbon vanilla, Grade A gourmet, 25–30% moisture
- Extraction-grade vanilla below that
- Vanillin content by lot
- Dried ginger and cardamom to buyer sample
Where it goes
- EU extract houses
- United States
- Specialty and food-service buyers
Season
Vanilla — main
Vanilla — second
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
Evidence that the beans were cured rather than only harvested. Premature picking has affected Ugandan vanilla prices, and buyers ask for the curing record behind a lot rather than a certificate that the farm exists.
Grains & cereals
Maize, rice, sorghum, millet. Regional and institutional buyers who need volume certainty and a moisture number that holds.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Maize Grade 1 to the East African Standard
- Moisture at or below 13.5%
- Aflatoxin within the buyer's limit, tested by lot
- Broken grain and foreign matter within grade
Where it goes
- Kenya and South Sudan
- Institutional and relief buyers
- Regional millers
Season
First season
Second season
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
A moisture number that holds to the buyer's weighbridge. Grain dried to spec and then stored poorly arrives out of grade, and without a reading both sides accept the buyer's figure settles it. Aflatoxin limits are the second requirement.
Oilseeds
Soybean, groundnut, sunflower. Regional processors buying to a spec, season after season.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Groundnut HPS 50/60 and 60/70 counts
- Soybean with oil content and moisture to contract
- Aflatoxin tested by lot, not by consignment
- Sunflower to buyer sample
Where it goes
- Regional crushers and processors
- India
- Kenyan and Tanzanian millers
Season
First harvest
Second harvest
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
Aflatoxin in groundnut. It is not visible at the farm gate, and testing after bulking does not identify which deliveries carried it. Testing by lot is what makes the source traceable.
Honey, beeswax, hides & skins
Small books, real premiums, and buyers who ask harder questions about source than anyone expects.
Grades and specs buyers name
- Honey moisture at or below 20%
- HMF and diastase within buyer limits
- No antibiotic residue, tested by batch
- Wet-salted and dry-salted hides by TR grade
Where it goes
- Regional and Gulf buyers
- Specialty honey buyers
- Tanneries in Asia and Southern Europe
Season
Honey — main
Honey — second
What most often disqualifies a Ugandan exporter
Residue testing and the hive records behind it. These are the smallest books on this page and attract the most detailed source questions: a buyer paying a premium for single-forest honey has no other way to verify it.
Not published yet
Grades and calendars are drafted, not traded
The grade names and thresholds above are the ones buyers commonly write into contracts, and the calendars are typical Ugandan harvest windows — but both move by buyer and by season. PLAN.md §8 warns that this audience checks. Have someone who trades these read the page before it goes live.
Needs review — PLAN.md §6.3
Every group on this page has demand behind it.
What separates suppliers who win those orders is whether the proof was on file when the buyer asked for it.
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