KIGALI, Rwanda – A new dry coffee cherries processing mill got its cogmills running in Kigali, last week, with officials saying the plant will help boost Rwanda’s specialty coffee exports.
The factory, at Kigali Special Economic Zone, already has an installed equipment, worth $700,000 (about Rwf585 million), and ready to process coffee.
It is expected to help Rwanda Trading Company (RTC), who are the owners, to double production capacity and further enhance quality of Rwandan coffee, according to the company’s Managing Director Clay Parker.
“We are almost doubling our capacity with this mill. This mill can process seven tonnes per hour, and we can do close to three containers for export per day,” Parker said, noting that they were only been able to export a container per day while processing with the old machine.
Each container carries about 19.2 tonnes of coffee.
The new facility will employ about 100 people on fulltime basis, according to Parker.
RTC started operations in Rwanda in 2009, with an operational base at Gikondo Industrial Area.
Parker, who was speaking during the launch of the mill last week, said all Rwandan coffee has ability to be specialty coffee. He said coffee is best when picked from the tree, which means that the quality starts from the farm.
Modern machine for high standards
Parker said the factory will be buying coffee produce from 80,000 farmers. Rwanda Trading Company procures over 20 million kilogrammes of coffee cherries per season.
“The equipment we have imported from Brazil is of modern standard. It allows us to maintain the highest quality throughout the supply chain and achieve high scoring coffee, and thus high premiums,” he said.
The targeted export markets include the US, Europe and Asia.
Emmanuel Ntirenganya
