Uganda coffee output to rise 14% in 2007

As production recovered from a 2006 drought, Uganda's coffee production is expected to increase by about 14% to at least 2,5 million 60 kg-bags in 2007 from 2,2 million previously, the coffee board said on June 12.

"The recovery will be sustained and we think it can go higher," said Henry Ngabirano, managing director of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. "Conservatively, we're looking at 2,5 million bags, but we can do much better. We don't think coffee production is going anywhere but up," he said. "We don't see anything that should make prices go down. No country has grown production substantially since 2000, while consumption continues to rise."

Uganda's coffee earnings rose 60 percent in June, from the same month last year, to $24,32 million on better prices and a 31 percent rise in the number of bags sold, according to data from the board. Uganda has become a leading player in quality Robusta since a political crisis in former top producer Ivory Coast cut production.

Ngabirano said Ugandan coffee would continue to fetch wider premiums over other Robustas as interest in east African coffee and recognition of its high quality grows. "Africa is becoming strategic : buyers know they get quality and there's a growing fashion for sustainable, organic coffees over the mass production you get out of Brazil and Vietnam."

Ugandan coffee is mostly grown by small-scale farmers.Its combination of high altitude, volcanic soils and a wet climate has enabled it to grow a quality it can sell expensively - only special Robustas grown at altitude in parts of India and Laos fetch comparable prices.

Ngabirano said the speciality coffee movement initiated by Starbucks and other big chains had raised consumer awareness of coffee origin. "The critical issue is how much translates to the farmer. If your country is mentioned but you get paid the same, who cares? But we are seeing a benefit in better prices," he said.

He added that the next step was to have Ugandan coffee as a brand on its own, rather than as from the east Africa region.

African coffee growers are enjoying a boom on demand for speciality and organic coffees. The American coffee chain Starbucks launched a Rwandan coffee last year and will soon begin marketing Ethiopian brands after resolving a licensing dispute with Africa's top producer, which mostly grows Arabica.

Debate rages in Uganda over whether the country, which sells mostly raw beans, should process coffee. Ngabirano said he wanted processing, first for local markets, which currently import finished coffee, then later for export. He said arguments that processed coffee perishes quickly failed to take account of advances in packaging technology.

"You can roast coffee out of Washington and sell it in Singapore. Why can't it leave Uganda to get to Italy?" he said.

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