Uganda’s coffee export volumes surged by 22% in 2020 compared to the previous year, data from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) monthly report indicates.
The figures show that exports for the 12 months to December 2020 tatalled 5.492,525 bags worth $515.94 million or sh2 trillion.
The performance of coffee has been impressive despite the disruptions caused by the deadly COVID-19 to several economic sectors. In 2019, Uganda exported 4,519,563 bags worth $436.54 or sh1.6 trillion.
In December 2020 alone, the data shows that coffee exports amounted to 422,922, 60 kilo bags worth $37.78 million or sh139.2bn.
Italy remains Uganda’s top market for coffee firms. Italy maintained the highest appetite with 24.07% followed by Germany 17.68%, Sudan 13.05%, Belgium 10.34% and India 6.96%.
Exports to the continent amounted to 84,098 bags. The data shows that Sudan remains a big market for Uganda coffee, closely followed by Morocco, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa.
Firms that earned the most from exports
In terms of leading coffee exporters, Ugacof (U) Ltd led the highest market share with 18.90 per cent, followed by Kyagalanyi Coffee Ltd 9.84 per cent, Louis Dreyfus Company (U) Ltd 9.78 per cent, Ideal Quality Commodities Ltd 8.54 per cent Olam Uganda Limited 5.81 per cent, Kawacom (U) Ltd 5.05 per cent, Export Trading Company (U)Ltd 4.49 per cent and Grainpilse Ltd 4.36 per cent.
Break down of Arabica, Robusta performance
This can be broken down into 375,209 bags ($30.87m) of Robusta & 47,713 bags ($6.92m) of Arabica, recording an increase of 28.06 per cent & 9.42 per cent in quantity and value respectively compared to the same month last year. Robusta exports accounted for 88.72 per cent of total exports higher than 86.50 per cent in November 2020.
The average Robusta price was $1.37 per kilo, the same as the previous month. Arabica fetched an average price of $2.42 per kilo, 20 cents higher than in November 2020. The highest price was for Organic Bugisu sold at $2.94 per kilo, followed by Organic Wugar sold at $2.78 per kilo.
