By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Uganda’s coffee exports grew by 972,962 bags in 2020, a 22 per cent increase from 2019.
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Defying Covid, and aided by good weather, Uganda’s coffee exports surged in 2020, posting a 22% increase from 2019. The increase, the highest since 1991, saw the country consolidate its position as Africa's largest coffee exporter .@rkabushengahttps://t.co/Gx5BM66gYz
— Charles Onyango-Obbo (@cobbo3) February 2, 2021
The increase is the highest since 1991 according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the country’s agency mandated to control and market the crop.
Figures released by the UCDA show that exports for the calendar year January 2020 to December 2020 amounted to 5,492,525 60-kilo bags that saw Uganda earning $515.94 million from exports.
In 2019, the East African country shipped 4,519,563 bags, fetching $436.54 million. This represents a 22 per cent and 18 per cent increase in quantity and value respectively.
By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last Coffee Year (December 2019), Robusta increased by 33.72% & 23.51% in quantity and value respectively. #DecCoffeeReport
— Uganda Coffee Development Authority (@CoffeeUganda) February 1, 2021
In December alone, coffee exported amounted to 422,922 60-kilo bags worth $37.78m.
The improved performance was attributed to an increase in production driven by newly planted coffee trees and favourable weather.
Uganda’s coffee is mostly sold in its raw form. The country produces both Robusta and Arabica coffee.
Much of the crop is grown by smallholder farmers in the central, eastern, and western regions of the country.
A total of 430,324 60-kilo bags of coffee valued at US$38.29m were exported in Nov 2020 at an average weighted price of US$1.48/kilo, 2 cents lower than US$1.50/kilo in Oct 2020. This was a decrease of 2.09% & 9.42% in quantity & value respectively compared to same period in 2019 pic.twitter.com/mZ9LIJNsC8
— Uganda Coffee Development Authority (@CoffeeUganda) January 8, 2021
On export destinations, Italy maintained its top spot among countries with a high affinity for Ugandan coffee, followed by Germany, Sudan, Belgium, and India.
African countries that consume Uganda’s coffee the most are Sudan, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and South Sudan.
Europe is the main destination for Uganda’s coffees with a 63 per cent import share.
After seeing millions of its coffee trees get decimated by a viral disease in the early 2000s, Uganda’s scientists began breeding new, disease-resistant varieties.
In 2009, the country’s coffee research institute released seven varieties that are resistant to the coffee wilt disease.
Coffee is Uganda’s priority commodity and plays a leading role in the livelihoods of many Ugandans contributing on average 30% to the national economy. It supports over 1.7 million farming families in 114 districts like Mrs. Komukama from Ibanda district. pic.twitter.com/cOP84alr3U
— Uganda Coffee Development Authority (@CoffeeUganda) January 4, 2021
In 2017, the institute released three higher-yielding and disease-resistant varieties.
Last year, the institute said it was working on a program to breed drought-resistant coffee plants as one of the ways to mitigate the effects of a changing climate on the industry.
Uganda’s government has set itself an ambitious target to increase exports of the crop to 20 million bags by 2025. Coffee is the country’s main cash crop.
