Coffee price rebounds on quality beans being offered
The price of coffee at the auction rebounded in the latest sale on the back of quality beans that are now streaming in the market. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NMG
The price of coffee at the auction rebounded in the latest sale on the back of quality beans that are now streaming in the market.
The market report from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) indicates a 50-kilogramme bag of the beverage traded at $188 (Sh23,095) up from $180 (Sh22,113) in the previous sale.
The latest prices come as a boost to farmers who in the last two months have been witnessing depressed prices from the sale of their produce.
“The prices went up during the sale because of quality beans that we are now getting from farmers,” said Daniel Mbithi, chief executive officer of NCE.
The auction is now getting the new crop from central Kenya, which is the main produce for the coffee season in the country and normally gets to the market at the beginning of December.
Previously, the sale has been receiving crops from eastern and parts of western Kenya since the market resumed in August after a one-month recess.
However, there is a likelihood of prices not being as impressive as it was in the previous crop year because of a rebound in production in Brazil-the world’s largest grower.
Kenya had reaped big from low production in Brazil last year after a crop failure that was occasioned by bad weather, impacting negatively on the yields.
Coffee traders say favourable weather in Brazil has prompted coffee tree flowering and is set to continue over the next months with Colombia, Central America and Mexico witnessing good weather for harvesting.
Mr Mbithi said projections still indicate that there will be a good crop in the market and which could have an impact on the local price.
Global prices of the products have in the last two months been subdued by an increase in volumes.
Kenya sells over 95 per cent of the locally produced coffee to the world market.
Kenya benchmarks its coffee prices on the trading New York exchange, which is the world’s largest auction for the produce.
