UGANDA – Uganda Coffee exports in May 2020 amounted to 437,597 bags of 60kg worth US$ 42.48 million, comprising of 340,830 bags of Robusta fetching US$29.54 million and 96,767 bags of Arabica earning US$12.94 million.

Last month the country earned US$36.93million with the total exported amount being 359,973 bags.

According to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority May report, this was an increase both quantity and value by 26.55% and 28.73% respectively, from the same month last year.

By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last Coffee Year (May 2019), Robusta increased both in quantity and value i.e. 35.81% and of 32.35% respectively.

Similarly, Arabica exports also registered a percentage increase in both quantity and value of 2.04% and 21.16% respectively.

The increase in exports has been attributed to the increased production on account of fruition of the newly planted coffee and favourable weather.

Exporters also drew down on their stocks in the midst of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and they were to some extent affected by logistical issues due to the country’s lockdown especially at Malaba Boarder point.

According to the reports, Coffee exports for the first 11 months (Financial Year 2019/20) amounted to 4,680,879-kilo bags worth US$ 456 million compared to 3,827,114 60-kilo bags worth US$ 383 million the previous year.

This represents 22% increase in quantity and 19% rise in value.

Cumulatively in twelve months, (Jun 2019-May 2020), a total of 5.02 million 60-kg bags worth US$ 488.02 million were exported.

In the month of May the top 10 export companies who held a market share of 84.35% included Kyagalanyi Coffee Ltd who led with a market share of 24.48%.

It was followed by Ugacof Ltd 16.57%; Olam Uganda Ltd 7.80% ; Kawacom Ltd 7.77%; Ideal Quality Commodities Ltd 6.88%; Louis Dreyfus Company Ltd 4.88% and Touton Uganda Limited 4.83%.

The destinations of Uganda’s coffee exports during the month included Italy, who maintained the highest market share with 31.18% compared with 25.51% last month.

It was followed by Sudan 18.16%, Germany11.06%  and India 10.80%.

Coffee exports to Africa amounted to 86,854 bags, a market share of 19.85% compared to 77,747 bags (16.28%) the previous month.

Africa countries included Sudan, Morocco and South Sudan. Europe remains the main destination for Uganda’s coffees with a 66.8% imports share.

Globally coffee exports amounted to 10.82 million bags in April 2020, compared with 11.17 million in April 2019.

Exports in the first 7 months of Coffee Year 2019/20 (Oct 2019 to Apr 2020) have decreased by 3.8% to 72.79 million bags compared to 75.67 million bags in the same period in 2018/19.

The ICO Composite Indicator price decreased by 4.1% to 104.45 US cents/lb in May 2020 from US cents/lb 108.91 in April 2020.

Expectations of a bigger output from Brazil’s harvest which is underway, and the on-going expectations of low demand put pressure on prices.

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