Coffee in upward trend at the auction

Kenyan coffee continued on an upward trend last week, edging up seven percent helped by quality beans and stable prices at the New York Coffee Exchange.

A Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) report indicates a 50-kilogramme bag of coffee on average fetched Sh13,802 up from Sh12,938 recorded in the previous sale.

NCE says the quality coffee at the auction in the past three weeks raised demand impacting positively on the price.

The New York price, which has been low in the last couple of weeks, shot from US95 cents a pound last week to about US104 cents in the latest sale.

Kenya sells over 95 percent of its coffee in the international market, which determines the value of the crop locally.

The latest sale marks the third trading of the new coffee year, which started last month with the auction expecting good crop season.

NCE though said the trend might not hold for long as prices remain volatile in the international market with the forecast glut from leading producers expected to hit earnings.