Kenya coffee price up 13pc

The value of Kenya’s coffee edged up 13 percent in last week’s trading helped by quality beans and a price surge at the New York Coffee Exchange.

A market report by the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) indicates that a 50-kilo bag of coffee on average fetched Sh12,938 up from Sh11,435 recorded in the previous sale.

NCE Chief Executive Daniel Mbithi said the quality coffee raised demand for the commodity hence impacting positively on the price.

The price of coffee in New York, which has been low in the last couple of weeks, shot from US95 cents per pound last week to about 104 in the latest sale.

Kenya sells more than 95 percent of its coffee to the international market, which determines the value of the crop locally.

The latest sale marks the second trading of the new coffee year, which started at the beginning of this month with the auction expecting a good crop from farmers in the main crop season.

The NCE said the good prices trend might not hold for long as prices remain volatile with expected high volumes from leading producers poised to have negative impact on earnings in the coming days.