Coffee prices drop 21pc on poor quality

NCE chief executive officer Daniel Mbithi. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By GERALD ANDAE

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Summary

• The average price of a 50-kilo bag of coffee fell from Sh12,600 registered previous week to Sh9,900 the Tuesday sale at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.
• Kenya’s earnings from coffee dropped by Sh1.3 billion between October and March compared with the same period last year, on account of low international prices and reduced volumes at the auction.

Coffee prices at the weekly auction dropped by 21 per cent last week marking one of the poorest performances recorded in the recent years.

The average price of a 50-kilo bag of coffee fell from Sh12,600 registered previous week to Sh9,900 the Tuesday sale at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE).

The value of the Kenyan coffee has been depreciating in the last couple of months after registering impressive results between January and February due to high quality coffee.

“We are getting low quality coffee from farmers and its taste is not good; this has cut down the demand from buyers,” says NCE chief executive officer Daniel Mbithi.

READ: Low global prices cut Kenya coffee earnings by Sh1.3bn

The coffee that has been trading at the auction came from the main crop season in central Kenya that has now come to an end, with quality expected to pick up in July when the short crop from eastern Kenya arrives.

Kenya’s earnings from coffee dropped by Sh1.3 billion between October and March compared with the same period last year, on account of low international prices and reduced volumes at the auction.