This archive report was first published on 27 December 2019.
Kenya's coffee and tea exports ended the year 2019 on a mixed note, with coffee prices rebounding in the last quarter but tea prices hitting a five-year low.
According to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, coffee earnings dropped by 24 percent at the end of the 2018/19 crop year compared to the previous period, following a 13 percent slump in the price of the commodity in the international market.
The crop earned Kenya Sh11 billion in the crop-year ended September, down from Sh14.75 billion realised in 2018.
However, the average price of coffee went up by 12.4 percent from Sh19,004 recorded in the previous sale to Sh21,513 at the last auction of 2019.
Tea farmers, on the other hand, are likely to face another round of poor earnings next year as the commodity at the auction has been fetching low returns since the beginning of the 2019/20 financial year.
Small-scale tea earnings dropped by 22 percent in the financial year ended June 2019, marking the lowest returns for growers in the last six years.
Despite the challenges, Nairobi Coffee Exchange Chief Executive Daniel Mbithi expressed optimism that 2020 would start on a good note, citing a 40 percent rebound in world prices and the expected boost in prices at the auction due to high-quality beans.
