MILAN – Coffee shipments from Uganda, Africa’s biggest exporter of the commodity, surged 35% on year in April, helped by rising global prices.
According to the state-run Uganda Coffee Development Authority, or UCDA, exports amounted to 336.676 60kg bags last month bringing the total volume from the beginning of the coffee year 2013/14 to 2.2 million bags, compared with the 1.9 million bags shipped in the same period in 2012/13.
Arabica coffee exports increased by 16% on the year to 510,893 bags in the past seven months, while Robustas increased by 14% to reach 1.65 million bags.
It should be noted, however, that shipments in April were slightly lower than the 348,423 bags exported in March, following the tapering off of the main harvest in the central and eastern growing regions.
“During the month, there was a slight increase in the farm gate coffee prices in tandem with the positive price change on the global markets,” the UCDA said in a monthly report for April.
Farmgate prices averaged 1 700 shillings ($0.67) per kilogram of raw coffee in April compared to 1 300 in January, the Authority reported.
As the country’s leading export commodity, coffee accounts for almost 20% of Uganda’s total annual foreign revenues. The EU, Sudan and the US are the main export destinations.
