Uganda earned $811.18m (about sh2.9 trillion) from coffee exports in the last 12 months, up from $535.93 (sh1.9 trillion) in the previous coffee year, a report by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has said.

The April report said coffee exports for 12 months (May 2021 to April 2022) totalled 6.38 million bags worth $811.18m compared to 5.82 million bags worth $535.93m the previous year (May 2020 to April 2021).

“This represents an increase of 10% and 51% in both quantity and value respectively,” the report that was released Monday, May 16 said.

It also said 75% of the total volume was exported by 10 exporters, out of 51 companies which performed during the month, compared to 87% in March 2022.

“Mt. Elgon A, AB, PB, B and C fetched the highest price at $6.00 per kilo sold as samples. The share of sustainable Arabica exports to total Arabica exports was 13% although lower than 20% the previous month, reflecting increasing uptake of sustainable coffees,” the report said.

Coffee exports in April 2022 amounted to 407,762 60-kilo bags worth $70.85m. The report said this comprised 277,244 bags of Robusta valued at $37.24m and 130,518 bags of Arabica valued at $33.61m.

“This was a decrease of 24.13% in quantity but an increase of 41.78% in value compared to the same month last year. By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last coffee year (April 2021), Robusta decreased by 40.31% and 4.65 in quantity and value respectively, while Arabica exports increased by 78.93% and 207.87% in quantity and value, respectively,” it said.

UCDA noted that the decrease in Robusta exports was mainly attributed to lower yields this year that were characterized by drought in some regions. This led to a shorter main harvest season in central and eastern regions.

“The increase in Arabica coffee exports is due to an on-year cycle characteristic of Arabica coffee production. Shortage of shipping containers in Asia and weather-related concerns in Brazil has fueled an increase in global prices for the past several months,” it explained.

Uganda is the leading coffee exporting country in Africa after Ethiopia and it is well known for its production of Robusta coffee taking at least 80% of the entire production and 20% of Arabica coffee.