Uganda: Coffee Export Earnings Grow By 32 Percent - AllAfrica.com

Peter KaujjuKampala

COFFEE exportation gross in October rose by 32% to $17.6m.

The up-to-the-minute study from the Republic Of Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said the volume was up by 10.9% compared to 155,571 bags shipped in October 2006.

UCDA attributed the improvement to high volumes of Robusta java which was up by 15% totalling 132,179 bags.

Arabica java measures on the other manus dropped by 0.4% owed to heavy rainfalls that delayed harvest home in some areas.

"Coffee cargo from Republic Of Uganda in the 10 calendar calendar months of the calendar year-2007 (Jan/Oct) amounted to 2.2m bags valued at $216.2m, up from 1.67m ($145.1m).

"In the last 12 months (November 2006-October 2007) cargo totalled 2.72m bags worth $261.3m, up from 2.04m ($ 174.4m) realised a twelvemonth ago," the study said.

On the local market, the heavy rainfalls during the calendar calendar month interrupted harvest home and drying of the beans.

This pushed farm gate terms to between sh1,000 and sh12,000 per kilogram of dry cherries of Robusta and sh2,500 per kilogram of Arabica.

On the planetary scene, the positive human race ingestion tendency against a background of a autumn in production is envisaged to travel on giving support to a terms rise.

Exports to the European Union increased to 147,564 bags during the month compared to 142,080 previously.

November exportations are estimated at 250,000, 3% above October volumes owed to higher farm-gate pillory and unfavourable weather.

Meanwhile, a commission involving exporters, UCDA and other government authorities have got been formed to counter larceny of java from containers in theodolite to Mombasa.

Many exporters have lost millions of Ugandan shillings to unscrupulous people who interrupt into containers, steal the java and replacing it with sand.

The cozenage is threatening the sector's credibleness on the international market.

It is safer for the java to go by railroad as opposing to route but most of the exporters utilize route conveyance because it takes about 10 years to acquire to Mombasa.

The rise java terms this twelvemonth could be one of the grounds for the thefts.

Robusta java is going for about $1.95 (sh3,354) a kilogram in London, from the $1.61 (sh2,769) a twelvemonth ago. Being a landlocked country, Uganda's greatest traditional export, coffee, have to travel through Mombasa. Many purchasers are concerned about Uganda's coffee, beginnings said.

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A UCDA functionary said recently that the larcenies were on the rise.

"Our authorization is to supervise the containers up to the boundary line and then they are in the custody of transporters. We are losing gross as government and assurance in our coffee.

"We are in contact with the Kenyan authorities. Something have to be done soon," the functionary said.