Coffee exports from Uganda, Africa’s biggest exporter of the beans, may drop 26 percent this month from a year earlier because of a smaller crop, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said.
Shipments may fall to 280,000 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags from 376,173 bags a year earlier, the authority said today by e- mail from Kampala, the capital.
The forecast is lower than the 275,057 bags shipped last month because of a reduced harvest in the southern and southwestern regions, the authority said.
The European Union, Sudan, U.S., India, Morocco, Ecuador, Switzerland, Japan and South Africa are some of the major importers of Uganda’s coffee, the agency says.
Uganda may export 3.1 million to 3.2 million bags in the 2011-12 season, which started on Oct. 1 and runs through September, according to the authority. This compares with the forecast of 2.8 million to 2.9 million given by National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises on May 8.
Shipments from October through June, the ninth month of the season, dropped to 2.01 million bags worth $293.6 million, from 2.12 million bags valued at $300.6 million, the report said. Last month’s exports were worth $36.6 million, it said.
The nation exported 3.15 million bags worth $448.9 million in 2010-11, according to the authority. The Eastern Africa Fine Coffee Association says Uganda consumes about 3 percent of its annual crop.
Uganda was Africa’s biggest coffee exporter and the world’s ninth-largest in the 12 months through last September, according to the London-based International Coffee Organization. Robusta beans, used in espressos and instant drinks, account for about 85 percent of Ugandan production, according to the authority.
Source: bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-16/ugandan-coffee-exports-may-fall-26-in-july-authority-says-1-.html
Ugandan Coffee Exports May Fall 26% in July
