Uganda coffee exports down 5% y/y in January – regulator

Uganda’s coffee exports declined 4.9% in January from the same month last year on account of low arabica yields, the state-run regulator Uganda coffee development Authority (UCDA) said.

The regulator said in a report, seen by Reuters on Thursday, that the east African country shipped 446,560 60-kilogram bags, compared with 469,951 bags exported during the same month in 2020.

The slow down in shipments was attributed to lower yields from arabica trees, a result of the crop’s cyclical nature where a good crop is followed by a bad one. Uganda cultivates both arabica and robusta varieties of the crop.

Uganda is Africa’s largest exporter of coffee followed by Ethiopia and grows mostly the robusta variety.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Omar Mohammed and Jane Merriman)