Ugandan coffee exports rose in September amid a bump in robusta yields, according to the Uganda Coffee Development Agency.
The country exported 585,576 60-kilogram bags of coffee in the month, an increase of 15.8 per cent from a year earlier. Coffee earnings rose 49.6 per cent to $66.6m. Shipments of the robusta variety were up 22.2 per cent to 543,279 bags, while exports of arabica beans dropped 30.5 per cent year on year to 42,297 bags.
The increase in robusta bean exports was driven by yields from newly planted coffee trees, and a jump in global prices going back to July following frosts and drought in Brazil — the world’s largest coffee producer — which compelled exporters to free their stocks, UCDA said.
Arabica exports fell because the variety is in the lower-yielding half of its two-year cycle.
Global coffee prices in September rose to their highest since February 2021, and continued an upward trend observed since the start of the coffee year in October 2020, according to the International Coffee Organisation. This was due to supply-side shocks, particularly the weather in Brazil and disruptions in trade flows from Asia resulting from stricter Covid-19 measures.
Coffee exports in the 12 months to September — the 2020/2021 coffee year — were the highest in 30 years, coming in at 6.4m bags worth $629.9m compared to 5.4m bags valued at $512.2m in the previous year.
