Uganda coffee earnings down by 34%

Apr 10, 2009

KAMPALA - Uganda’s coffee export earnings fell 34% to $23.9m in March from $36.3m in the same month last year on robusta volumes, according to data from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority.

KAMPALA - Uganda’s coffee export earnings fell 34% to $23.9m in March from $36.3m in the same month last year on robusta volumes, according to data from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority.

Uganda – Africa’s second biggest coffee grower after Ethiopia – has become a key player in robusta production since a political crisis in former leading African producer Ivory Coast cut output. It exported 256,579 60-kg bags in March from 279,248 bags in the same month last year.

Uganda sent out 195,857 bags of robusta worth $16.79m from 238,938 bags in March 2008 valued at $30.14m.
Europe is the main destination for the east African nation’s beans. Some 1.2 million households earn their livelihoods from coffee, which is grown in 60% of Uganda’s districts.

Meanwhile, a total of 79.8 million kg of tea was sold at Kenya’s weekly auction in the first quarter of 2009, a 16.6% increase from the same period last year, statistics by brokers showed.

The Mombasa-based tea auction handled 68.4 million kgs between January and March last year when transport and farm activity was disrupted by post-election violence.
About three-quarters of the tea sold originated in Kenyan farms, the Africa Tea Brokers showed.

Reuters

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});