By Dorothy Nakaweesi
Expensive and unreliable electricity, if not sorted, may hinder efforts to position Uganda as the regional’s beef exporting hub.
This concern was echoed by Mr Hisham Ghaffar, the marketing manager Egypt Uganda Food Security Co. Ltd (EUFS), a company recently established to boost Uganda’s beef exports.
Mr Ghaffar while sharing the challenges EUFS is facing while doing business in Uganda during the export week clinic at Lugogo UMA show last week, said: “Extremely high electricity tariffs, make it difficult to compete with the international market.”
He said to make matters worse, they experience repetitive power supply cut-offs which make doing business more expensive.
Electricity tariffs
According to Electricity Regulatory Authority, domestic consumers pay Shs623.6 per unit while commercial consumers pay Shs565.1 per unit. Medium industrial consumers pay Shs523 per unit while large industrial consumers pay Shs347.1 per unit.
EUFS is a slaughterhouse and meat processing factory in Bombo town that processes up to 1,000 heads of cattle daily. The facility produces and exports beef, goat, lamb, fresh and processed meat, hides and rendered products. The company employs up to 350 people.
Mr Ghaffar called on people who want to supply the company with animals to respect the quarantine.
“According to International, Uganda and FAO standards for slaughtering, each district in Uganda should set up quarantine for holding livestock for a period of 21 days prior to slaughtering, to guarantee disease-free animals and to be under ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries supervision,” Mr Ghaffar.
Uganda Export Promotions Board senior marketing executive Brenda Opus urged exporters to know their contractual obligations to avoid being cheated.