Coffee farmers will be smiling all the way to the bank after months of low price disappointments.
The price of Kenyan coffee rebounded by 18 per cent this week after months of a downward trend as quality offered for sale improved at the auction.
A Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) market report indicates that a 50-kilogramme bag of coffee fetched Sh10,400 on Tuesday up from Sh8,800 average in the previous sale. The trading also saw Kenya’s premium coffee grade AA gain this week to hit Sh14,200 from Sh13,200 that was recorded previously for a 50-kg bag.
“The increase in price has been occasioned by improved quality at the auction this week,” said NCE chief executive Daniel Mbithi.
The coffee performed well despite the international prices remaining low for the fifth month in a row now.
The price of coffee in the world market has been on a decline since last November when it hit a low of 113 cents a pound before sliding further this week to 93 cents per pound.
Kenya has one of the best coffee in the world. It is highly sought by roasters for blending with other low quality from other regions.
However, Kenya’s production has significantly dropped compared to its peers in the region with Uganda, which was at par with the country in the previous years, now widening the gap.
Since the early 1990s to 2010/11 crop year, the area under coffee has declined by 35 percent from 170,000 hectares to 109,795 hectares as farmers abandoned the crop due to poor industry management.
