“Some of our members have closed due to high production costs and a volatile shilling. The competition for raw materials at the landing sites is also solid and local processors are losing to their Kenyan counterparts who offer better prices,” Bulega explained.
Gomba Fishing Company, the biggest processing plant owned by the Mukwano Group, closed due to high production costs while Uganda Marine Products was gutted by fire.
Bulega added that this year’s freight on board (FOB) prices had tumbled to $3.9/kg from between $5 and $4.2/kg last year due to low demand.
A total of 14,933.24 metric tonnes of fish were exported between January and June this year, while 15,870.26 tonnes were exported during the same period last year.
Fish exports fall by sh12 billion
UGANDA - FISH export earnings for the first half of the year have dropped by $7.9m (about sh12.7b) to $61m from $69m during the same period last year, the fisheries department has said. The assistant commissioner for fisheries, Nsimbe Bulega, said the slump was due to the volatile shilling, the closure of two fish processing plants and stiff competition for raw materials at the landing sites.