As the East African Community (EAC) member states gear up for the 2025/26 grain trading season, persistent trade restrictions are inflating prices and worsening food insecurity across the region.

 

Authorities continue to impose various barriers to the cross-border movement of grain at a time when governments are grappling with seasonal food shortages, growing refugee populations, climate-induced challenges, and dwindling humanitarian aid.

For example, Uganda has introduced a $10 per metric tonne levy on key by-products like wheat bran, cotton cake, and maize bran. The levy, implemented this financial year, is meant to promote domestic value addition, particularly in the livestock feed industry. But the policy has pushed up costs for regional buyers such as Kenya, which relies heavily on Ugandan grain for animal feed.

In Tanzania, the government’s selective issuance of export permits has hindered direct grain purchases by foreign buyers, raising delivery costs across regional markets.

Isaac Kashaija, chairman of the Uganda Rice Business Association, says the disruptions have fractured traditional supply chains.“Foreign traders used to drive directly to the farms, purchase produce, and transport it to Kampala using Ugandan trucks,” he said.

Due to these restrictions, the price of Tanzania’s Super rice variety has jumped from Ush4,000 ($1.11) to Ush5,000 ($1.39) in Kampala and surrounding areas.“We now have to wait at the Mutukula border or in Kampala for Tanzanian drivers to deliver,” Kashaija said, citing increasing red tape in the permit process.

South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, have raised concerns about non-tariff barriers. Authorities in Juba are retesting grain imports and charging additional fees, including $150 per container and $3,000 for an electronic permit.“We have protested these fees and clearance delays at Nimule, but our complaints are being ignored,” said Sudi Mwatale, chairman of the regional truck drivers association.

In April, South Sudan introduced a Regional Cargo Tracking System and e-permit, which requires taxes to be paid before goods leave the loading point.

In April 2025 alone, eight grain trucks were turned away in South Sudan for exceeding aflatoxin levels. Between April and July, an estimated 31,000 returnees in South Sudan were projected to face the most severe level of food insecurity.

South Sudan’s crackdown on grain imports isn’t new. Two years ago, it impounded 74 trucks, citing aflatoxin contamination. Since then, maize, beans, and flour shipments from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania have been repeatedly intercepted at Nimule.

Ongoing political instability has further complicated the market. The March 2025 house arrest of Vice-President Riek Machar intensified insecurity, with attacks on traders continuing.

Mounting trade obstacles have pushed exporters to reconsider certain East African markets. Recent data from the Bank of Uganda shows a sharp decline in the export volumes of beans, maize, and sorghum, except rice, over the 12 months ending May 2025, compared to the same period the previous year.

Beans exports dropped from 106,344 tonnes to 83,734 tonnes. Maize exports plunged 56 percent from 563,179 tonnes to 248,413 tonnes. Sorghum fell from 74,972 tonnes to 57,795 tonnes.

Despite being surplus producers of maize, Uganda and Tanzania are increasingly constrained in their ability to trade freely.

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