KAMPALA: As the coffee calendar enters a new year, farmers will find it difficult “to put food on their tables” following the drop in export value of coffee. According to latest statistics from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), in the month of October, the country exported 223,858 bags of coffee. This is a lower figure than the September exports, which were a total of 286,322 bags.
This performance indicated a 27.9 per cent fall in revenue earned in October. Experts attributed it to the persistent hot and dry weather. “During the second week of October, some parts of greater Mpigi, greater Mukono and greater Luweero started receiving good rains that allowed coffee planting. The dry conditions continued in greater Masaka until the third week,” the UCDA report stated.
Looking at the revenue, Uganda earned $22.93m (Shs80b), which is down from $29.32m (Shs102b) that was realised from the export in the month of September. Uganda produces mainly Robusta coffee as well as Arabica in selected areas especially along the highlands. During the month Of October, out of the total exports: 148,938 bags were Robusta and 74,920 were Arabica.
“Robusta decreased by 13.66 per cent and 26.03 per cent in terms of volume and value respectively, while Arabica increased by 31.58 per cent in volume and decreased by 23.76 per cent in value compared to the same period last year 2014/2015,” the report noted.
The performance on a year-to-year basis remained about the same. Coffee exports for the period (November 2014-October 2015) totalled 3.45 million bags worth $403m (Shs1.383t)compared to 3.52 million bags worth $402m (Shs1.383t) in the same period last year (November 2013 -October 2014).
The individual coffee exporting companies in the month of October in terms of quantity and market share were also listed in the UCDA report. Ugacof held the highest market share of 13.78 per cent followed by Olam, Kawacom, Export Trading and Ideal Commodities respectively. The first 10 exporters held a market share of 80.53 per cent lower than 85.66 per cent in the previous month.
During the month, farm gate prices were in the range of Shs2,200-Shs2,500 per kilo of Kiboko (Robusta dry cherries); Shs4,300-Shs4,700 for FAQ; Arabica parchment was sold at Shs5,200-Shs6,000 per kilo. Drugar from Kasese was in the range of Shs5,500-Shs6,000 per kilo.
Global coffee exports for the coffee year 2014/2015 amounted to 110.7 million bags, a 3.1 per cent decrease from the previous year 2013/2014, which was 114.24 million bags.
The decrease was attributed to lower exports mostly from Vietnam where price resistance within producers and internal traders was evident. The world total production for coffee year 2014/2015 has been revised to 143.3 million bags down 2.3 per cent compared to last year. “The revision is mostly due to an increase in production by Colombia, which is now estimated at 13.3 million bags,” the report noted.
The global consumption was estimated at 149.2 million bags in the calendar year 2014, indicating an increase of 2.3 per cent from the previous year. International Coffee Organisation’s (ICO) monthly average composite indicator price increased to $1.18 per pound up from $1.13 in September.
The increase was at the beginning of the month reaching $1.25 per pound as rains in Brazil did not come as expected. This raised concerns over flowering of the 2016/2017crop. However prices dropped as the Brazilian Real weakened against the US dollar and as the rains also started. Uganda is the leading coffee exporting country in Africa and ranked second leading producer after Ethiopia.
