Rwanda to increase coffee exports to UAE with new partnership with Dubuy
RWANDA – Coffee exports from Rwanda, which in the fiscal year 2021-2022 alone amounted to over 15 million kilograms and generated over US$75.5 million, are set to grow after the country partnered with Dubuy, to bring high-quality Rwandan coffee closer to consumers in the UAE and the Gulf region.
Dubuy is a B2B e-commerce platform by the DP World, an Emirati multinational logistics company specializing in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services, and free trade zones.
On December 16, 2020, Rwanda Development Board signed an MoU with DP World to launch Dubuy to link B2B and end-to-end destinations from Kigali to UAE.
The platform was launched first in Rwanda in early March 2021. As of January 2023, in around 100 registered Rwandan sellers on DUBUY, there are about 20 top Rwandan Coffee sellers.
Rwanda’s Ambassador to the UAE Emmanuel Hategeka noted that trade logistics have been put in place in terms of logistics to ensure Rwandese coffee gains a wider market than before.
Dubuy platform will be working with DP World dry port in Kigali as well as RwandAir that has already begun direct cargo flights to Dubai are facilitators of two-way trade flows between Rwanda and UAE.
He added:” First, coffee is one of Rwanda’s leading traditional agricultural exports with annual revenues of over US$75 million supporting more than 355,000 smallholder families for their daily livelihoods.”
“Second, the UAE is a major trade hub and Rwanda’s leading trade partner. As a major coffee consumer society, coffee buyers from UAE and GCC cannot miss the opportunity to source single-origin high-quality Rwandan coffee. This unique event brings the exporters and buyers together to sample the best of Rwanda’s coffee and conclude supply deals.”
Commenting on the partnership, Mahmood Al Bastaki, COO–of Digital Trade Solutions, DP World and Saeed Al Suwaidi, the Director of Agri Commodities at Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) appreciated and recommend the Rwandan coffee while reiterating their instructions’ commitment to promoting Rwandan coffee on the global market.
Still, in the coffee business, the Swiss-based coffee company, Sucafina, has teamed up with Singapore-based AI-driven food ingredient profiler ProfilePrint to invest in Csmart, a Brazil-based developer of AI-powered image recognition technologies for green coffee grading
Sucafina aims to be the leading sustainable ‘farm to roaster’ coffee company in the world and hopes the partnership through the investment will assist with its endeavor by significantly speeding up the time it takes to approve a sample and reduce the carbon footprint of coffee sales.
Founded by producer, QC professional, and software developer Francisco Massucci Silveira, Csmart designs AI-powered image recognition technologies for coffee grading that aim to improve the coffee industry for producers, professionals, and roasters alike.
According to the company, while the technology could help quality controller (QC) professionals by reducing repetitive tasks and improving and accelerating communication between QC teams, it could also help in reducing the carbon emissions from shipping countless green coffee samples to buyers and sellers across the world.
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