By Damali Mukhaye
The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has revealed that coffee exports in February amounted to 563,763 60kg bags, worth 50.5m USD, (approximately Shs185.281bn).
According to the authority’s report for the period between March 2020- February 2021, the exports comprised 500,685 bags of Robusta coffee valued at US$40.96m and 62,078 bags of Arabica coffee valued at US$9.59m.
The report released this morning also indicates that Coffee exports for the 12 months (March 2020-Feb ) amounted to 5,558,175 60kg bags compared to 4,744,275 bags the previous year.
The report indicates that as much as Robusta coffee exports increased by 28.72% and 18.17% in quantity and value respectively, Arabica exports decreased in both quantity and value by 26.40% and 20.72% respectively.
This decrease in Arabica monthly exports is attributed to the off-year biennial cycle characteristic of Arabica production while the increase in Robusta exports during the month was on account of fruition of the newly planted coffee as well as favorable weather.