Uganda Coffee Exports projected to increase in April

16-April-2012

Coffee exports from Uganda, Africa’s second-biggest producer, may climb 2.5 percent this month because of an improved crop, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said.

Shipments in the month may rise to 180,000 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags, from 175,540 bags a year earlier, the agency said today in a report, details of which were provided to Bloomberg News by phone by an official who couldn’t be identified in line with the Kampala-based authority’s policy.

The forecast is 4 percent lower than 187,592 bags last month because of the end of the main harvest in the eastern and central regions, the authority said.

Uganda may export about 3.2 million bags of the crop in the 12 months through September, according to the authority. Shipments from October through March, the sixth month of the season, advanced to 1.34 million bags from 1.33 million bags a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg News tally of the authority’s figures.

Uganda was Africa’s biggest coffee exporter and the world’s ninth-largest in the 12 months through last September, according to the London-based International Coffee Organization. Robusta beans, used in espressos and instant drinks, account for about 85 percent of Ugandan production, according to the authority.

Fred Ojambo in Kampala: Bloomberg