Despite a drop in export volumes, Kenya earned more than $1.32 billion from tea and coffee exports last year, thanks to weaker shillings and global weather shocks.
Exports of the two commodities benefited from a weakening of the Kenya shilling, which had fallen to lows of $1.13 at the end of last year.
According to the New York Exchange, which is regarded as the standard for all international prices, freezing due to severe weather in the world’s top coffee producer, Brazil, led to a seven-year price high last year, trading at $1.70 per pound, up from $1.50 in 2020.
According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics statistics, Kenya earned $213 million from coffee between January and November 2021, exceeding the full 2020 profits of $196 million.
Kenyan coffee prices went from $4 to $6.3 during the 2021 trade session, up from $2.5 to $5.9 in 2020.
Despite the increase in revenue, the amount of coffee shipped decreased as output fell for the second year in a row.
Kenya exported 35,163 metric tons (MT) of coffee in the first 11 months of 2021, a decrease from 40,980 MT at the same time in 2020, according to data, with Kenya exporting an average of 2,500 MT of coffee every month. This indicates that export volumes in 2021 will not exceed those in 2020.
Kenya is Africa’s fifth biggest coffee producer, after Ethiopia (7.38 million bags), Uganda (5.62 million bags), Ivory Coast (1.78 million bags), and Tanzania (913,000 bags).
Kenya’s tea export revenues increased by $141.2 million, or 13.3 percent.
The Tea Board of Kenya estimates that revenues were $1.2 billion last year, compared to $1.06 billion in 2020, with total export volumes of 558 million kilograms last year, compared to 518 million kilograms in 2020.
Earnings from local tea consumption fell to $168 million from $177 million the previous year. Prices at the Mombasa tea auction have risen this year compared to the previous.
