Uganda’s June coffee exports surged 6.3% from a year earlier, lifted by a bumper harvest in parts of the country and good international prices, according to the sector regulator.
The east African country is Africa’s largest exporter of coffee, followed by Ethiopia, and mainly cultivates the robusta variety. The commodity is one of Uganda’s biggest earners of foreign exchange alongside gold.
Shipments in June amounted to 563,832 60-kilogram bags, up 6.3% from volumes shipped a year earlier, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said in a report seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
“The monthly coffee exports performance was higher than the
previous year…partly on account of a good crop harvest in the south-western region and prevailing good prices on the global scene which prompted exporters to release their stocks,” UCDA said.
Uganda’s coffee output and earnings have expanded steadily in recent years on the back of an aggressive planting campaign promoted by the government of President Yoweri Museveni which wants to raise annual exports to 20 million bags.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
