Coffee prices at the weekly Nairobi auction dropped marginally in this week’s trade, marking the second time in a row that the value has declined since the beginning of this year.
A market report from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) indicates that a 50 kilo bag was sold at Sh25,755 on Tuesday, down from Sh26,058 in last week’s trading and Sh28,684 in the previous week’s sale. Coffee prices have been on an upward trajectory since the first sale of 2017 following an increase in high quality beans from farmers.
The NCE had anticipated that the high prices would continue till the end of this month.
NCE chief executive Daniel Mbithi said the current prices are within the high range when compared with the same period last year. The coffee trading at the auction comes from the main crop season in central Kenya.
The harvesting season starts in October, with supplies running all the way to March. Last year the crop was hit by drought that affected most parts of the country leading to postponement of auctions at some point.
