Coffee prices rose marginally in this week’s sale, pushed by high demand for the top-grade beans at the auction.
Kenya’s top-grade coffee AA fetched $217 (Sh26,571) per 50-kilogramme bag in the latest sale, up from $192 (Sh23,510) in the previous trading.
This helped raise the overall price of the commodity to $180 (Sh22,041) from $178 (Sh21,796) previously.
This is the first time in the last month that the price of the beverage has gained after a losing streak in the last four sales.
The poor performance was attributed to a surge in production in Brazil, the world’s top producer of beverages in the global market.
The local prices have also been hit by falling international prices that have now stood at $1.61 from $1.9 per pound in October.
Kenya sells over 95 per cent of its coffee to the world market and the international prices are used as a benchmark for the local price at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.
Coffee traders say favourable weather in Brazil has prompted coffee tree flowering and is set to continue over the coming months.
The crop in Brazil was hit by bad weather in the last two years, cutting supplies from the world’s top producer.
Kenya’s top-grade coffee is always in high demand by buyers who use it for blending with low-quality commodities from other countries.
The total value of grade AA coffee jumped to $446,840 up from $377,539 in the previous sale. The total bags offered for sale grew marginally to 8,967 bags of 50 kilos from 8,663 in the previous sale.
Coffee earnings increased by $81 million in eight months to August when compared with the same period in the last crop season as more volumes offered at the auction and high demand pushed up the value of the beverage.
Data from the NCE indicated that the earnings in the review period were up 62 per cent to hit $210 million when compared with $129 million in the corresponding period last year.
Source: Business Daily Africa
