This week’s coffee earnings from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) auction rose to Sh 648 million as compared to Sh554 million netted last week.
According to NCE reports, a total of 10, 347 bags of coffee presented by nine brokerage companies were confirmed and sold with 584 bags being withdrawn from a total of 10,931 bags that were provisionally listed for sale.
In the auction, withdrawal rate by the coffee brokers was at 5 percent with highest withdrawals done by KCCEMA brokerage company, which pulled 23 percent of its consignment (79 out of 351 bags), followed by New KPCU at 10 percent (349 out of 3,499 bags), and Minnesota Marketers at 9 percent (60 out of 692 bags).
Alliance Berries Ltd had a modest withdrawal of 3 percent (96 out of 2,839 bags). In contrast, CEBBA, Kinya Coffee, Kipkelion, Meru Union, and United Eastern recorded no withdrawals, offering their full provisional consignments for sale.
In the Sale of 36 of the current coffee year, overall average price across all grades was Sh. 47, 817 per bag of 50 kilo bag, with prices ranging from a minimum of Sh. 13, 954 to a maximum of Sh. 56, 073 per bag.
In the auction, two lots achieved the high price of Sh 55, 814 per bag; one lot of 21 bags of grade AA from Kiganjo Factory which is part of Thiririka Farmers’ Cooperative Society (FCS) in Kiambu County, and another three bags of grade AA from Kanyiriri Factory, which is part of Rugi FCS in Nyeri County.
In the estates section, one lot from Ibonia Farm in Kiambu, with 11 bags of grade AA fetching Sh. 55, 556 per bag.
A total of 771 bags equivalent to 7 percent of the volume traded, fetched over Sh. 51, 680 per bag signaling better returns for coffee farmers.
The top five buyers by volume were Ibero Kenya Ltd which bought 2,901 bags worth Sh. 169.7 million, C.Dormans SEZ Ltd purchased 2,412 bags worth Sh. 150.2 million and Louis Dreyfus Company got 1,491 bags worth Sh. 85.2 million.
Other buyers included Kenyacof Limited (1,452 bags worth Sh 87 million), and Taylor Winch (Coffee) Limited (1,162 bags worth Sh0 million).
The volume purchased by the five companies collectively accounted for approximately 84 percent of the total volume traded.
By Bernard Munyao
