Coffee exports from Uganda are expected to decline in March due to due to plummeting international prices.
In fact, shipments could drop as much as 25 percent to 260,000 bags compared with 348,423 bags exported in the same month last year.
“The prevailing low international prices have led exporters to hold on to their coffee stocks… as they wait for coffee prices to improve,” commented the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) in its monthly report.
Exports in February totalled 290,475 bags, or an 18 percent decline from volumes shipped in the same period last year, after harsh weather depressed yields, the Authority also stated.
“February was much hotter and drier than January and the harshness was manifested in the scorched coffee plants,” the report said.
Uganda expects this year to ship 3.2 million bags of coffee, down from an earlier projection of 3.5 million bags and roughly in line with last year’s figures.
