Coffee prices declined for a fourth consecutive week at an auction in Kenya as deteriorating bean quality curbed demand.
The average price for all coffee sold dropped 12 percent to $157.61 for a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag from $178.30 a week ago, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange said today by e-mail. The benchmark AA grade gained 1.2 percent to an average of $321.31 a bag after supplies dropped.
Kenya produces arabica coffee, sought after for blending into specialty beverages. Export destinations for the African nation’s beans include Germany, the U.S. and Sweden, according to the Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association, which owns the exchange.
“Trading activity was low,” Mansukh Shah, a coffee trader at Nairobi-based Alanwood Ltd., said by phone. “The quality of coffee has come down a bit.”
Sales at the auction climbed 15 percent to 7,054 bags worth $1.36 million, from 6,147 bags valued at $1.33 million last week, the exchange said. Supply fell 4.7 percent to 21,487 bags.
Kenya’s coffee season runs from Oct. 1 through September. Output in the current period may fall to 45,000 metric tons from 49,000 tons last season after lower global prices discouraged farmers from investing, Louise Wanjira Njeru, managing director of industry regulator Coffee Board of Kenya, said Feb. 15.
Following are details of today’s auction in dollars per 50- kilogram bag:
Source: bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/kenyan-coffee-declines-for-a-fourth-week-on-weakening-demand.html
Kenyan Coffee Declines for a Fourth Week on Weakening Demand
