Coffee earnings up Sh8b by end of July
By Nicholas.Waitathu, August 23, 2022
Farmers are set to reap from high volumes and better prices increasing earnings by more than 55 per cent by end of July 2022.
The industry earnings reached $187.4 million (Sh22.4 billion) as at July 31, 2022 compared to $ 120.5 million (Sh14.4) billion in the same period in 2021.
Even though the country was in the election mood, prices remained bullish all through campaign and election period.
Published last week by Nairobi Coffee Change (NCE) auction report that by the end of July 2022, improved volumes and the prices, pushed earnings by 55.41 per cent. NCE chief executive officer Daniel Mbithi said volumes of clean coffee traded at the auction went up by 42.74 per cent from 21,757 to 31,012 metric tonnes respectively during the review period.
“Equally the number of clean bags of coffee sold during the period increased from 353,413 bags to 504,455 bags for the period between July 2021 to July 2022 respectively,” said Mbithi.
Slight increase in price
Subsequently, the prices had a slight increase from $277.14 (Sh33,145.944) in the 2020/2021 season compared to $302.17 (Sh36,139.532) per 50kg in the current period accounting a 9.03 percentage points improvement.
Premium grades AA, AB, C and PB recorded the highest prices during last week’s coffee auction. Maximum average price of Grade AA during Sale 33 dropped to $337 (Sh40,305.20) compared to $358 (Sh42816.80) on August 2, 2022.