Coffee has been ranked as the fourth leading foreign exchange earner for Kenya after tea, tourism and horticulture. Speaking on Monday during breakfast meeting with Global Coffee buyers, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett, said that the volume and value of coffee exported to the United States of America (USA) market has been increasing gradually in the last six years.
“I am happy to note that amount top importers of Kenyan Coffee the USA pays the highest per 50kgg bag of coffee and in the coffee year 2015/15 USA came third in volume purchasing at Ksh 24,000 (USD 240.1) per 50Kg bag”, the CS said.
The Cabinet Secretary said that In 2015/16, Kenya exported a total of 44,400 metric tonnes of clean coffee valued at Ksh206 billion ($206 million) to 39 destinations compared to the previous year’s 41,000 metric tonnes valued at Ksh19.1 billion ($191million) to 58 market destinations.
“This gradual increase is because Kenya produces mild Arabica coffee, which gives a balanced cup with fruitness,balanced acidity of citrus acid, full rounded body, nutty toasty with spicy flavour and hints of black currant flavour as international markets rely on mixed based on taste and preference”, he said .
He further said that growth in volume of Kenya’s coffee export to the United States(US) has also been increasing from over 7 million kilograms in the year 2014/2015 compared to increase the year 2010/2011 which was 4 million kilogrammes.
Mr Bett also noted that Kenya is a member of Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and has been participating in the SCAA exhibitions and it won the 2017 SCAA Portrait Country status for the SCAA symposium and Exposition and this will enable Kenya to give its top quality coffee to the world.
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Shellemiah Keya, an agricultural economist, said the Kenya government has established new strategies which will help to know what the consumers require and shorten the distance between the consumers and the farmers. “Real hard work of small scale farmers’ producers has contributed to the export of coffee and as government we have to support the farmers so as to make the enterprise more profitable,” added Mr Keya.
The global coffee buyers have visited the country for an “origin trip” visit that will provide them an opportunity to interact with Kenya Coffee Industry stakeholders. The “Origin Trip” locally known as the as the Kenya Coffee Safari is meant to identify who is who in the coffee value chain in Kenya.
It includes interaction with small scale and large scale producers ,co-operatives, millers, multinationals,roasters, the dealers, transport logistics and warehousing providers and the Kenyan coffee houses.
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