The volumes of the produce grew by 30 per cent from 13 tonnes in February last year to 16.9 tonnes in February 2017.
High prices at the auction last month were attributed to the anticipated shortage of high quality beans in the coming months.
Coffee prices at the auction have started falling significantly, declining by 17 per cent in the latest auction
Coffee earnings improved by 63 per cent last month compared to a similar period in 2016 on the back of higher international prices and an increase in volumes at the Nairobi auction.
Statistics from Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) show that the worth of Kenya’s coffee sold last month stood at Sh9.3 billion ($90.97 million) compared to Sh5.7 billion ($55.51 million) that was sold in February 2016.
The volumes of the produce grew by 30 per cent from 13 tonnes in February last year to 16.9 tonnes in February 2017.
High prices at the auction last month were attributed to the anticipated shortage of high quality beans in the coming months, raising the demand of the commodity at NCE.
“The increments observed were due to the surge in prices at the exchange that were caused majorly by an anticipated shortage of the high quality beans in the foreseeable future,” said NCE chief executive officer Daniel Mbithi.
The average price per 50 kilogramme jumped from $213 (Sh21,939) in February 2016 to $268 (Sh27,604) in February this year, an improvement of 25.61 per cent.
High quality season
Mr Mbithi said that buyers are trying to stock as much as possible to secure enough volumes for sale in the future, given that the high quality crop season has come to an end.
NCE already anticipates that there will be a decline in prices, starting this month as the volume of quality coffee at the auctions has started to decrease.
“It is expected that much lower average prices will be witnessed in the month of March due to lower quality of the beans that will begin to stream into the market,” said Mr Mbithi.
Coffee prices at the auction have started falling significantly, declining by 17 per cent in the latest auction —the biggest drop since the beginning of the year.
According to the Coffee Directorate, the value of Kenyan coffee rose 69 per cent in three months to December.
The beverage earned the country Sh2.6 billion between October and December compared with Sh1.5 billion realised in the corresponding period in 2015, although these were not major harvest seasons hence had lower volumes on sale.
Model country
The auction has been enjoying high volumes of good quality coffee from farmers in the last two months coming in from central Kenya.
The next crop that will bring in quality coffee is expected at the auction in July.
However, this will not be a major season, and hence it will not offer higher volumes.
In April, Kenya will have an opportunity to promote its coffee to more than 15,000 delegates expected to gather in Seattle, US, at the annual SCAA event, to promote its brand after it was chosen as a model country in cultivation of the crop.
Coffee is among the top foreign exchange sources for the country, alongside tea, tourism, horticulture exports, and diaspora remittances.
