Kenya’s coffee earnings surge in 2021 on higher global prices
Kenya earned more from the crop in 2021 due to high global coffee prices, despite a decline in exports, the government statistics agency said in a report on Tuesday.
Kenya earned 24.2 billion shillings (213 million US dollars) from January to November 2021, surpassing the 196 million dollars earned in all of 2020, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
According to KNBS, Kenya’s coffee prices ranged between $4 and $6 during the 2021 trading period, up from 2.5 to 5.9 dollars in 2020.
Despite the increase in earnings, coffee exports decreased for the second consecutive year as production continued to decline.
According to KNBS, Kenya exported 35,163 metric tonnes (MT) of coffee in the first 11 months of 2021, down from 40,980 MT in the same period in 2020. According to KNBS, with the country exporting an average of 2,500 MT of coffee per month, export volumes in 2021 will not exceed those in 2020.
Kenya’s coffee production has been declining as farmers diversify their crops, particularly avocado and macadamia, and others sell their land to real estate developers due to a variety of challenges.
Kenya is Africa’s fifth largest coffee producer, trailing Ethiopia (7.38 million 60 kg bags), Uganda (5.62 million bags), Cote d’Ivoire (1.78 million bags), and Tanzania (1.78 million bags) (913,000 bags).
