UGANDA – Italy has maintained its spot as Uganda’s leading coffee export destination during the month of October 2020, having a market share of 38.52% compared to 29.49% of last month.

This was revealed by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) on its monthly report for October, which indicated that Sudan came in second as the top buyer with 13.48% market share, followed by Germany 19.61%, India 8.69% and Belgium 5.63%.

According to the report, coffee exports to Africa amounted to 87,384 bags, a market share of 20.42% compared to 138,196 bags (27.29%) of the previous month. Africa countries included Sudan, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt and South Africa.

Europe remains the main destination for Uganda’s coffees with a 61% imports share.

Uganda earned US$38.61 million from exports of 428,015 bags of coffee.

Coffee exports rise by 12% in quantity

During the period under-review, Uganda earned US$38.61 million from exports of 428,015 bags of coffee each weighing 60kg.

This was an increase of 12.95% and 4.49% in quantity and value respectively compared to the same month last year, attributed to rise in production on account of fruition of the newly planted coffee as well as favourable weather.

For the month of November, coffee exports are projected to be 500,000 bags as exporters start procuring coffee from the main crop from Central and Eastern regions.

By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last Coffee Year (October 2019), Robusta comprised of 371,280 bags fetching US$30.97 million, an increase of22.36% and 10.13% in quantity and value respectively.

For Arabica, the bags exported were 56,735 worth US$7.39 million, a 24.86% decrease in quantity and 13.44% decline in value.

The authority further noted that coffee exports for the 12 months (November 2019 to October 2020) amounted to 5,409,054 bags worth US$513.99 million compared to 4,465,534 bags worth US$435.81 million of the previous year.

This represents 21% and 18% increase in both quantity and value respectively.

Leading sellers and buyers of the month

From the total traded amounts, top 10 exporters held a market share of 83.02% compared to 78.01% the previous month.

Olam Uganda Ltd led the highest market share with 20.14% increasing from last month’s 9.23%. It was followed by Ugacof Ltd 13.97%; Louis Dreyfus Company Ltd 12.02%; Touton Uganda Limited 8.71%; Ideal Quality Commodities Ltd 8.68%; Kyagalanyi; Coffee Ltd 7.01%; and Grain Pulse Ltd 3.65%.

On the other hand, the top 10 buyers of the commodity held a market share of 63.30% of total exports, higher than 61.62% the previous month.

Olam International led with a market share of 21.51% compared to 11.43% in September 2020. It was followed by Sucafina 12.88%; Altasheel Import & Export Enterprises 7.85%; Volcafe 4.01%; Hamburg Coffee 3.41%; Pacorini Silocaf 3.02%.

At the global front, coffee production for 2019/20 is estimated at 168.84 million bags versus consumption of 167.59 million bags.

Demand is seen to be down due to the pressure from a global economic downturn and limited out of home coffee consumption as social distancing remains in place in many countries.

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