Coffee drawn from cooperative societies and estates that was traded at Nairobi Coffee Exchange, Tuesday netted Sh1.6 billion.
A total of 28,971 bags of 50 kilos of coffee were sold representing a 4 percent increase from the 27,864 bags traded during last week’s sale.
Average price per bag saw a slight drop to Sh43,911 from Sh44,944 attained in the previous sale.
The average price equals to Sh134 per kilo of cherry gross (clean coffee) where farmers will get an estimate Sh107 per kilo of delivered coffee.
Gachatha Factory in Nyeri County got the best price of Sh57,364 for each of its 33 bags of grade AA followed by Gathiga Factory which achieved Sh55,426 for each of the 32 bags of grade AA traded in the auction.
Kahunyo Factory fetched Sh54,522 for the 25 bags of grade AA, while a Murang’a based Marumi Factory got Sh52,196 for each of the 3 bags all brokered by the Alliance Berries Limited.
Kaguyu Factory, where the coffee was brokered by the Kirinyaga Slopes Company achieved Sh50,646 for each of the 39 bags of grade AA coffee.
In the auction, premium grades AA and AM accounted for 22,608 bags that translated to 78 percent of total volume traded which earned Sh471.7 million.
In the category of brokers, Alliance Berries Ltd led other 11 agents after selling 14,805 bags at Sh788 million followed by Kirinyaga Slopes Company which traded 3,474 bags at Sh193.1 million.
New KPCU sold 3,128 bags earning Sh165.5 million, KCCE Marketing Agents traded 2,837 bags at Sh156.7 million and Kipkelion Ltd traded 1,759 bags fetching Sh0.96 million.
In the category of dealers, C-Dorman ltd led 15 local and international buyers after purchasing 10,614 bags, followed by Ibero Kenya Ltd, who bought 6,657 bags; Taylor Winch 5,448 bags, Louis Dreyfus 2,252 bags and Sondhi Trading Ltd 1,491 bags among others.
Stakeholders in the coffee value chain have been appealing to farmers to produce high quality coffee which fetches high prices in the auction.
The NCE Chief Executive Officer, Lisper Ndungu said coffee at the auction has continued to earn increased prices after cooperative societies strive to market premium qualities of cherry.
She noted that at the auction, international buyers are attracted by the quality of coffee and called on the management of cooperative societies to train and help farmers increase production and boost quality of their coffee.
By Bernard Munyao
