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Uganda posts highest coffee export volumes at 4.6m bags
A cup of coffee. Ugandans have been advised to create demand instead of looking for ready markets abroad. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- In the year ending, consumption is seen in deficit for the third consecutive year, with consumption exceeding production by 1.2 million bags.
- Uganda’s coffee performed well on the global market. Dorothy Nakaweesi writes about the reasons for the higher coffee export volumes this year.
Uganda, Africa’s second largest coffee producer after Ethiopia and leading exporter in Africa’s records from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) registered a 38 per cent increase in export volume and 66 per cent in value.
“The year ending September, Uganda exported a total of 4.6 million kilogramme bags of coffee, up from 3.3 million bags it exported last year,” UCDA records showed.
From these exports, the country earned $545 million (Shs1.9 trillion), up from $326 million (Shs1.1 trillion) earned last year.
Reason
Commenting about Uganda’s performance, Ms Laura Walusimbi, UCDA’s communications manager, said: “This is the highest export volume that Uganda has recorded and it is because of the massive planting campaigns which UCDA and other stakeholders have been implementing.”
Ms Walusimbi adds that we are seeing new coffee planted starting to produce beans, something which has had an impact on the production and export volumes.
What this performances means to the farmers is that they will even become more organised as more money comes into their pockets.
Commenting about this performance, Mr Joseph Nkandu, the executive director, National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises, said: “Farmers have become more organised and handling coffee and a business. When they get money, they re-invest it. That is why we have seen new crop coming into production.”
He added that this has been achieved by all stakeholders and believes that when the Coffee Bill is enacted into a law, the Uganda and coffee sub-sector will continue growing.
Global status
However, the global coffee calendar is showing signs on decline in prices, deficit in consumption and a slim increase in production as the calendar closes.
Records from the International coffee organisation (ICO) report for September, show that the global bench-mark -price continued its downward trend averaging 124.46 cents of dollar.
Global coffee production in the year ending is currently estimated at 153.9 million bags, indicating a 1.5 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
ICO report shows that the not so good global performance was attributed to a decline in in the output of Robustas which dropped by 10.6 per cent from the 56.6 million bags posted.
Consumption
In the year ending, consumption is seen in deficit for the third consecutive year, with consumption exceeding production by 1.2 million bags.
