UGANDA – The Uganda coffee sector registered continued growth in the traded volumes of the commodity in 2021, fetching higher amounts from the green gold all year round.

In November 2021, the East African country exported 524,902 60-kilo bags of coffee, registering 21.98% rise in quantity compared to the same month last year.

From the exported amount, Uganda earned US$71.09 million, a 65.9% increase from the previous corresponding period.

The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has attributed the rise in export volumes to the newly planted coffee which started yielding, supported by favourable weather.

This is in addition to the positive trend in global coffee prices, triggered by weather related issues in Brazil and shortage of shipping containers, which prompted exporters to release their stocks.

Italy maintained its highest market share as the leading destination for the Ugandan coffee, accounting for 32.76% of the total exports. It was followed by Germany 17.43%, Belgium 8.06%, India 6.61%, and Algeria 5.56%.

Coffee exports to Africa i.e., Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Somalia, Libya and Kenya amounted to 83,803 bags, a market share of 16% compared to 106.681 bags (23%) the previous month.

Europe remained the main destination for Uganda’s coffees with 69% imports share higher than 57% in October 2021.

Global coffee production expected to marginally rise

November’s coffee export volumes were higher compared to 486,534 60-kilo bags of coffee sold in in October 2021, amounting to US$61.43 million.

According to UCDA, the recent exported volumes comprised of Robusta valued at US$51.42 million and 88,485 bags of Arabica valued at US$ 19.67 million.

This was an increase of 21.98% and 65.90% in quantity and value respectively compared to the same month last year.

By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last Coffee Year, Robusta increased by 17.15% and 68.17% in quantity and value respectively, while Arabica exports increased by 53.11% and 60.24% in quantity and value respectively.

An aggregate of the full year’s statistics revealed that, coffee exports for 12 months (December 2020 – November 2021) totalled 6.65 million bags, 23% jump from previous year’s 5.40 million bags.

In terms of earnings, Uganda clinched US$681.49 million compared to US$514.37 million fetched in 2019/2020.

Overall, World coffee exports for October totalled 9.68 million bags down by 4.4% from 10.13 million bags in October 2020.

Total exports for coffee year 2020/21 totalled 128.93 million bags an increase of 1.2% compared to 127.36 million bags for coffee year 2019/20.

Global production for 2020/21 coffee year is estimated to increase by 0.4% to 169.64 million bags a 0.4% up from 169.00 million bags in Coffee Year 2019/20.

Meanwhile consumption is estimated to increase by 1.9% % to 167.67 million bags in 2020/21 coffee year compared to 164.53 million bags in 2019/20 coffee year.

Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE