Coffee prices at Nairobi exchange auction drop on low-quality beans

Coffee prices dropped by 2.5 per cent during this week’s auction due to low-quality beans as this season’s crop comes to an end.

On average a 50-kilogramme bag of coffee fetched Sh17,700 down from Sh12,000 in last week’s auction at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE).

Chief executive Daniel Mbithi said the amount of good quality coffee had drastically reduced affecting the good prices the commodity has been fetching in the preceding months.

“The price at the auction has declined on the account of low quality berries and we expect low prices to continue until next month,” he said.

Mr Mbithi said the auction would be heading for a recess later this month as they wait for a new crop expected at the auction from July.

“We are breaking for recess on 21st of this month as our main crop season comes to an end with the dwindling volumes and quality of coffee at the auction,” he said.

READ: Exchange to go on 30-day break as coffee season ends

The price of coffee had been going up since January because of high quality beans from central Kenya that had increased demand at the auction.

Farmers from the region have been harvesting their main crop since November last year.

Mr Mbithi said they expect high quality coffee from July when the crop from eastern Kenya would be ready for harvesting. The value of coffee at the NCE declined by nearly nine per cent to Sh8.5 billion in the half year to March due to lower volumes and prices, according to a market report from the auction.

Kenya sold coffee worth Sh9.3 billion through the auction in the first-half of the 2014/15 crop season that runs from October to September.