Agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze has said they are working with the private sector actors to ensure that they sell instant coffee to the world.

He said this on Friday while commenting on the reports that a Russian company Russky Product is interested in buying Ugandan Robusta coffee to produce instant coffee.

Russky Produсt is one of the leading food manufacturers in Russia. 

The company's products are produced at two manufacturing plants Koloss in the Moscow region and Detchinsky Vegetable Concentrates Factory in Kaluga region.

They produce oat flakes, instant porridges, soups, instant soups, coffee beans, instant coffee, instant chicory, cereal drinks, kissels, spices, seasonings, jelly, and baking mixes.

Tumwebaze said in a tweet that it is good that Ugandan coffee continues to win endorsements in major international markets.  

"Our goal/focus, however, is on working with the private sector actors to ensure that we sell instant coffee to the world. A soluble coffee factory is our target,” he said.

Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) in collaboration with the Ugandan Embassy in Moscow, has been hosting a meeting between Russian investors and Uganda coffee exporters in Kampala.

Johnson Olwa, Uganda’s ambassador to Russia, told exporters at Coffee House in Kampala that the company has Russky Product company is a big supply chain of coffee.

“They buy from several countries, including Uganda through third parties, but they now want to buy directly from Ugandan producers and exporters,” he said.  

Uganda overtakes Vietnam

Uganda recently overtook Vietnam as the world’s second-largest coffee supplier to Italy.

Italy is the second-largest importer of green coffee beans in Europe, after Germany.

Uganda is now behind Brazil, which was hit by a bad drought this year, followed by frost. The weather seriously harmed Brazil’s coffee trees.

UCDA says this year, the country’s coffee exports have increased to their highest level in three decades.

“Uganda coffee is now highly sought after globally because of its quality and unique attributes,” UCDA, which is working towards attaining the production target of 20 million bags of coffee by 2025, wrote on its Twitter handle.

Total shipments jumped 21% to 6.5 million 60-kilogram bags in the year through September and about a third of that went to Italy.

Coffee is one of the world's most popular drinks, and it is produced in more than 50 countries, but Uganda is Africa’s biggest coffee exporter and the continent’s second-largest producer of beans after Ethiopia.