By URN
Uganda’s coffee export volumes surged by 22% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
The growth has been revealed in the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) monthly report of December 2020.
The figures for 2020 indicates that exports for calendar year January 2020 to December 2020 totaled to 5,492,525 bags worth US515.94 million approximately (Shs1.902Trn), compared to 4,519,563 bags worth US$436.54 million equivalent to (Shs1.610Trn) the previous year.
This represents a 22% and 18% increase in quantity and value respectively.
With regard to the month of December 2020 Coffee exports amounted to 422,922 60-kilo bags worth US$37.78m approximately (Shs.139.202Bn) in December 2020.
This can be broken down into 375,209 bags (US$30.87m) of Robusta & 47,713bags (US$6.92m) of Arabica, recording an increase of 28.06% & 9.42% in quantity and value respectively compared to the same month last year.
Robusta exports accounted for 88.72% of total exports higher than 86.50% in November 2020.
The average Robusta price was US$ 1.37 per kilo, the same as the previous month.
Arabica fetched an average price of US$ 2.42 per kilo, 20 cents higher than in November 2020.
The highest price was for Organic Bugisu sold at US$ 2.94 per kilo, followed by Organic Wugar sold at US$ 2.78 per kilo.
In terms of leading coffee exporters, Ugacof (U) Ltd led the highest market share with 18.90%, followed by Kyagalanyi Coffee Ltd 9.84%, Louis Dreyfus Company (U) Ltd 9.78%, Ideal Quality Commodities Ltd 8.54% Olam Uganda Limited 5.81%, Kawacom (U) Ltd 5.05%, Export Trading Company (U)Ltd 4.49% and Grainpilse Ltd 4.36%.
On export destinations Italy maintained its top spot among countries with a high affinity for Ugandan coffee, Italy maintained the highest appetite with 24.07% followed by Germany 17.68%, Sudan 13.05%, Belgium 10.34% and India 6.96%.
Coffee exports to Africa amounted to 84,098 bags, a market share of 19.88% compared to 97,418 bags (22.64%) the previous month. African countries that consume Uganda’s coffee the most are Sudan, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and South Sudan.
Europe remained the main destination for Uganda’s coffees with a 63% imports share.
