Uganda recently withdrew from a two-year extension of the International Coffee Organisation’s (ISO's) 2007 International Coffee Agreement (ICA). The ICA, with both importing and exporting countries as members, aims to facilitate international coffee trade and focuses on sustainability (ICO). It also works to ensure benefits for all parties, especially profits for small-scale producers.

Uganda is Africa’s second-largest producer of coffee and leading exporter of coffee beans. From October 2020 to September 2021, it exported “6.5 million 60kg bags, earning $630 million” (Reuters). Coffee outputs in Uganda have risen in the past several years due to planting programs increasing the amount of land used for coffee production. Output is projected to increase by 12% through September 2022.

The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) explained the country’s withdrawal from the ICA, saying the ICO needed to better address issues including “price volatility, climate change, and import tariffs” (Bloomberg). More specifically, the UCDA said unfair import tariffs restrict the export of roasted coffee beans, and Uganda wants to be able to export value-added coffee. The UCDA also takes issue with an old international classification system of coffee, which fails to recognize varieties from Uganda and other countries. Uganda will engage with the ICO on these concerns and then decide on its future membership with the ICO, noted the UCDA.