Uganda’s coffee exports in December 2018 amounted to about 314.4 60-kilo bags earning the country the much needed foreign exchange of US $32.41 million, according to Uganda Development Coffee Authority (UCDA) says in its latest report. But the figures represented a decrease of 18.51 per cent and 24.06 per cent in quantity and value respectively from the same month in 2017.
By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last coffee year (December 2017/18 and 2018/19), Robusta registered a percentage decrease in both quantity and value (16.51 per cent and 22.67 per cent) respectively.
Arabica exports also registered a percentage decrease in both quantity and value -24.71 per cent and 27.35 per cent respectively.
Coffee exports for the last 12 months (January 2018- December 2018) amounted to 4.17 million bags worth US $ 436 million compared to 4.77 million worth US $555 million the previous year, a 12.58 per cent and 21.30 per cent reduction in both quantity and value respectively . Some of the factors that led to this were: Low global prices on account of higher crop in Brazil which affected export prices and high stocks at exporter and farm level.
The destinations of Uganda’s coffee exports during the month of December 2018 were; Germany had the highest market share with 23.81 per cent compared to 25.12 per cent in November, it was followed by Switzerland with 21.14 per cent compared to 5.52 in November, Italy 6.67 per cent compared to 27.78 per cent in November, India had 5.45 per cent share compared (2.93) in November while the USA had 5.41 per cent compared to 1.18 per cent in November.
Coffee exports to Africa amounted to 14,904 bags, a market share of 4.74 per cent compared to 60,699 (20.70 per cent) bags in November. The figures in brackets represent percentage market share held in November 2018.
World coffee exports increased by 5.7 per cent to 9.88 million bags in November 2018, compared with 9.35 million in November 2017. The 2018/19 global production is expected to be 167.47 million exceeding world consumption at 165.15 million bags.