Uganda’s import bill of secondhand clothes increased fivefold from 2001 to 2016.  Worn textile products and clothing are a major component of Uganda’s imports of textile products. The textile imports are due to high population growth and limited domestic capacity for apparel production.

While Uganda’s import bill of used clothes has tripled in the last 15 years, earnings from cotton exports have minimally grown in over 15 years. Nearly 95 per cent of Uganda’s cotton is exported as lint, which undermines opportunities for increased earnings from upgrading in the value chain. So the domestic textile and apparel market is being given attention. The country is investing in and supporting the cotton industry to produce competitive products, which will reduce the import of secondhand clothes. The capacity of ginneries has been increased.

East African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, came up in 2016 with a three year plan to ban imports of secondhand clothes as part of a vision to boost industrialisation. The ban was to be enforced by introducing and increasing taxes on used clothes. However, the US threatened to review trade benefits enjoyed by East African Community member states under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.