Earnings from coffee exports decline in September

_________________A total of 532,212 60-kilo bags of coffee valued at $144.71m (sh535.3b) were exported in September 2024.  According to Uganda Coffee Development Authority’s monthly report of September this year, the coffee was sold at an average price of $4.53/kilo, US cents 12 higher than $4.41/Kilo in August the same year.

It IS indicated in the same report that this value was $1.80 higher than $2.73/kilo in September last year.

The earnings from coffee exports in September 2024 were, however, much lower than the earnings in the previous three months during which the country registered record-breaking earnings.

The monthly report for August from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) indicated that Uganda made a record-breaking result of earning $221.6m (sh820b) from coffee exports.

It is important to note that even the earnings for July which were to a tune of $210m were a record breaker as the highest monthly earnings ever.

Considering that even the earnings of June 2024 of $162.3m had surpassed all other monthly earnings before, it means that Uganda enjoyed unprecedented earnings from coffee exports for the three consecutive months of June, July, and August.

Coffee exports for twelve months (September 2023- August 2024) totalled 6.39 million bags worth $1.35b compared to 6.08m bags worth $918.41m in the previous year (September 2022- August 2023).

This represents an increase of 5.25% and 46.96% in quantity and value respectively.

Global perspectiveInternational trade reports indicate that Brazil, the world’s leading producer of coffee earned a total of $9.8b from coffee exports in 2023 and Vietnam, the second leading, earned $4.4b.

Vietnam has set an ambitious target of boosting coffee production to be able to earn more than $6b from coffee exports by 2030.

President Museveni’s push for coffee value additionWhile opening the second G-25 African Coffee Summit at Speke Resort Munyonyo last year, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, urged the African coffee producing countries to embrace value addition in order to maximize the benefits from the coffee industry.

“Out of the $460b global coffee value, the coffee producing countries only take $25b and Africa gets only $2.4b, with $845m going to Uganda because we are now producing 8million, 60kgs bags,” the President stated.

 “A non-coffee producing country like Germany, earns $6.85b! This is part of the iniquities of the present global parasitic system. In the last 60years, I have been involved in the struggle against this modern slavery for Africa- the curse of producing raw-materials for cleverer people in the world to add value to those raw materials and get much more value from them,” Museveni said, adding that a kg of green coffee of good quality may go for $2.5 per kg yet the same quantity of coffee roasted, ground and packaged may go for $40.

According to the records of monthly earnings from coffee exports, $162.3m for June and $210.4m for July are the highest returns in Uganda’s history.