Coffee exports from Uganda, Africa’s second-biggest grower of the crop, rose 16 percent in April, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said.
Shipments climbed to 176,561 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags, from 152,640 bags a year earlier, the agency said today by e- mail from the capital, Kampala.
Exports in the month were 20 percent lower than an initial forecast of 220,000 bags, and 21 percent below 223,099 bags exported in March because of a smaller crop, the authority said. Secondary harvesting in the central and eastern regions as well as the main crop in the western and southwestern areas has accelerated, according to the agency.
East Africa’s third-largest economy after Kenya and Tanzania has experienced a dry spell since December, which the government blames on climate change. The country consumes less than 3 percent of its annual output, according to the Eastern African Fine Coffee Association. More than 95 percent of Uganda’s coffee is grown by small-scale farmers whose crop is predominantly rain-fed, according to the authority. Robusta accounts for about 85 percent of annual output.
Exports from the start of the season on Oct. 1 through April declined 6.3 percent to 1.5 million bags, from 1.6 million bags in the same period a year earlier, according to a tally of the agency figures by Bloomberg News.
Shipments in the 12 months through September may decline to 2.6 million 60-kilogram bags from a Sept. 20 forecast of 3.1 million bags, the authority said on April 13. The revised forecast is 2.6 percent lower than 2.67 million bags exported last season.
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