Markets & Finance

Quality beans increase price of coffee by 21pc

coffee

Improved quality of beans has raised price at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. FILE PHOTO

The price of coffee has increased by 21 per cent at the currently biweekly auction, as the market continues to receive quality beans from central Kenya.

A 50 kilogramme bag of coffee traded at Sh21,522 on average up from Sh17,748 registered in the previous sale.

This is one of the highest price the auction has recorded this year and comes as a relief to farmers who have been grappling with low prices in the last few months.

Nairobi Coffee Exchange chief executive officer Daniel Mbithi said good quality coffee is flowing in from farmers, a move that has been significant in improving the prices.

“We are now getting new crop that is of higher quality, compared to what we have been getting before, this is the main reason the prices have gone up,” said Mr Mbithi. Mr Mbithi, however, said the volumes have not picked up enough as the wet weather resulting from the ongoing rains has hampered drying.

“We are yet to get the expected volumes from the main crop that is coming in from Central (Kenya) as the rains have slowed down drying of the beans,” he said.
The quantity offered for sale in this week’s auction went up to 144,000 kilogrammes compared to 83,000 kilos last week.

He disclosed that the auction will resume normal schedule next week following the growth in the volumes offered for sale, which can sustain a weekly auction.

Volumes dwindled

Last month, the weekly auction took a break as volumes dwindled after the main crop from eastern Kenya dried up.

The new schedule saw the auction skip a week before resuming to enable the agents to accumulate the required volumes to warrant the trading.

Recent statistics released by the Kenya National Bureau of statistics (KNBS) indicate that volumes dropped from 3,424 tonnes in the first nine months of 2014 to 2,634 tonnes in similar period this year.

The lower volumes saw the value of the produce sold at the NCE dip 18 per cent to Sh14.5 billion in the crop year ending September, from Sh17 billion in the year 2013/2014.