Commodities

Coffee falls 15pc ahead of auction’s long recess

mbithi

NCE chief executive Daniel Mbithi attributed the decline to high volumes of low quality coffee. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The price of Kenyan coffee went down 15 percent in this week’s trading as the quality of beans offered continues to go down with one sale remaining before the auction goes on recess.

A market report by the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) indicates a 50- kilo bag on average fetched Sh11,544, down from Sh13,696 in the previous sale.

NCE chief executive Daniel Mbithi attributed the decline to high volumes of low quality coffee.

The main season started last December and normally comes to an end around this time of the year when high quality beans from central Kenya starts going down.

The auction will close this month and reopen in the second week of July to accommodate short-term crop coming in from eastern and western Kenya.

Low volumes at the auction and poor global prices have depressed coffee earnings in the current financial year.