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Procurement, infrastructure, minerals and investment across Uganda, East Africa and the wider continent — read and explained by the GPP research desk, for partners who need the story behind the headline, not just the headline.
Updated July 2026The Stories Shaping Procurement Across Uganda & Africa
Four developments our team is tracking closely — and why each one matters to buyers, suppliers and investors working with us across the region.
Uganda’s Standard Gauge Railway: From Blueprint to Bulldozers
After more than a decade of stalled financing, the 272km Malaba–Kampala Standard Gauge Railway has moved from paperwork to construction. Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi is on site at Iganga, where a sleeper factory and workers’ camp are already taking shape, and in June 2026 the Islamic Development Bank approved €650.75 million toward the project — the largest single-project financing Uganda has ever received. That money is earmarked for the Jinja Nile Bridge, a 2.12km tunnel at Mbuya, and six new railway stations, with the government targeting full financial closure by November 2026 through a mix of IsDB, African Development Bank and World Bank support, plus Uganda’s first sovereign Sukuk bond.
For our clients, the number that matters most is 40 percent: the share of contract value the government has ring-fenced for Ugandan suppliers of cement, aggregate, steel and skilled labour. This is the clearest local-content opportunity East Africa has produced in years, and it will run for the better part of four years.
Uganda’s Entry Into the Global Energy Market
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline is now more than 80 percent complete, with the Tanga marine terminal, its jetty and storage tanks essentially finished and Pump Station One in Hoima in its final commissioning phase. Uganda is targeting first oil production before the end of July 2026, with the first export cargoes expected to leave for international markets by October. The IMF estimates the country’s oil revenues will climb from roughly $1 billion to $2.5 billion a year once production stabilises — a fiscal shift few East African economies have experienced at this scale.
What follows first oil is a second wave of opportunity: refinery-adjacent logistics, camp and facilities services, and a domestic supply chain for the Albertine region that is still being built out. We are already fielding enquiries from partners positioning for this phase.
Gold Rush 2.0: How Uganda Became a Multi-Billion-Dollar Bullion Hub
Gold has overtaken coffee as Uganda’s single largest export earner, generating a record $5.8–6.4 billion in the year to late 2025, according to Bank of Uganda figures — more than five times what the sector produced just six years ago. The surge is being driven by record global gold prices, as central banks worldwide diversify reserves away from traditional currencies, and by a genuine shift toward domestic value addition. Eurogold Refinery, widely recognised as Uganda’s first wholly Ugandan-owned refinery, is now refining bullion to 99.9 percent purity and has opened a Dubai office to sell directly into one of the world’s largest bullion markets.
Uganda’s mineral story runs wider than gold — coltan, tantalite, copper, silver and uranium belts stretch across Busia, Buhweju, Mubende, Kassanda, Karamoja and West Nile. For buyers, the shift toward formal refining and traceable supply is the development to watch: it is exactly the kind of chain our sourcing team was built to navigate.
Coffee, Capital and Confidence: Reading Uganda’s Investment Surge
Uganda exported roughly 8.6 million bags of coffee for the twelve months to May 2026, earning about $2.3 billion and cementing its place as Africa’s leading coffee exporter. That performance sits inside a much larger story: the Ministry of Finance reports a balance-of-payments surplus of $2.47 billion for the year to March 2026, the largest in fifteen years, while foreign direct investment reached $5.4 billion during the recent election period — a reversal of the capital flight investors once expected around Ugandan elections. Real GDP growth is now projected at 10.2 percent for FY2026/27, lifted by first oil, agro-industrialisation and continued infrastructure spend.
Taken together, these numbers describe a market that is de-risking in real time. For investors weighing entry into Uganda or the wider region, this is the macro backdrop against which every sourcing and procurement decision is now being made.
More From Across the Region
Shorter updates our desk is following, grouped by the sectors our clients ask about most.
Procurement & Tenders
UgandaKitgum–Kidepo Road Secures €110.5m Financing
Uganda has secured €110.5 million (about Shs481 billion) to fund the Kitgum–Kidepo road, part of a wider push to open up trade routes in the northern sub-region and connect it more directly to South Sudanese and regional markets.
KCCA Opens Bidding for Ggaba Market Redevelopment
Kampala Capital City Authority has invited bids for construction of a modernised Ggaba Market in Makindye Division, the latest in a series of urban market upgrades intended to formalise trading infrastructure across the city.
Mpererwe–Kiteezi–Kiti Road Contract Awarded
KCCA has issued a notice of award for the upgrading and reconstruction of roughly nine kilometres of road across Kawempe Division and Wakiso District, one of several batches moving from tender to contract under the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area programme.
Infrastructure & Energy
Uganda & TanzaniaSGR Financing to Fund Jinja Nile Bridge & Kampala Tunnel
The IsDB-backed financing package for the railway’s eastern route will specifically cover the 553-metre Jinja Nile Bridge and a 2.12km tunnel beneath Mbuya, alongside six new stations from Tororo through to Kampala.
Government Targets 25 Industrial Parks by Year-End
Uganda Investment Authority is expanding its network of serviced industrial parks from eight to twenty-five, with sites like Kapeeka already showing what ready infrastructure — power, water and ICT laid on from day one — can do for local government revenue and job creation.
EACOP Marine Terminal Nears Completion in Tanga
Precast elements and marine loading arms at the EACOP export terminal in Tanga are essentially complete, with the facility now preparing for its final commissioning phase ahead of first oil exports later this year.
Minerals & Mining
Uganda & AfricaUgandan-Owned Refinery Reaches International Markets
Eurogold Refinery, founded by Arua businessman Benard Feni, has become the first wholly Ugandan-owned gold refinery to reach 99.9 percent bullion purity, with a Dubai office now linking Uganda’s mines directly to global buyers.
Government Pushes Value Addition Beyond Gold
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development is backing the Uganda National Mining Company to invest further up the value chain for coltan, tantalite, copper and other strategic minerals, aiming to capture more processing and export value onshore.
Central Bank Buying Keeps Gold Prices Elevated
Sustained central bank diversification into gold, against a backdrop of global economic uncertainty, has kept prices at record highs into 2026 — a tailwind that continues to benefit Uganda’s position as a regional processing and trading hub.
Agriculture & Investment
UgandaCocoa Exports Climb Nearly Ninefold
Cocoa has emerged as Uganda’s second-leading agricultural export behind coffee, with export value rising from $70.6 million to $620.4 million as production and processing capacity expanded across the sector.
Shilling Strengthens as Reserves Hit Record High
The Ugandan shilling was the best-performing East African Community currency between May and June 2026, supported by export earnings and remittances that pushed foreign exchange reserves to a record $6.01 billion.
Uganda Coffee Launches First National Brand in Brussels
Uganda unveiled its first national coffee brand, “Uganda Coffee: It’s in Our Nature,” at the World of Coffee Brussels expo, part of a wider push to strengthen positioning in the EU market ahead of new deforestation-linked import rules.
Reading the Market So You Don’t Have To
Uganda and the wider East African region are moving through a genuine infrastructural and fiscal transformation — rail, oil, gold and coffee are converging into one of the most active procurement environments on the continent. Our team tracks the tenders, the financing decisions and the policy shifts behind each of these stories so our partners can move on real opportunities, not headlines. Explore our full range of services or see how we support investment across Africa.
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