Burundi's coffee prises rose this week compared to last week's auction thanks to a weaker US dollar, the coffee board said on Friday. The state-run Coffee Board (OCIBU) said this week's average price was $3.01 per kg, up from $2.95 per kg last week. The auction was held on Wednesday and results released on Friday.
OCIBU said 630 tonnes of top grades FWAA, FWA, FWB, FWTT and FWT were offered, and 558 tonnes were sold. Coffee farmers had boycotted the first auction of the 2008/09 marketing season two weeks ago, arguing that OCIBU officials had revealed reference prices to traders. The farmers returned to the market last week.
"We don't have enough strength to fight the government, but we will continue to keep a close eye on how the trading is being carried out," Macaire Ntirandekura, head of Burundi's national farmers association, told Reuters on Friday. The tiny central African nation expects its coffee output to climb to 31,000 tonnes this marketing season, up from 8,000 tonnes the previous year, mostly due to better rains.
Earnings are seen rising to $71.6 million from $18.6 million in 2007/08. Coffee is the country's main source of hard currency, and the sector employs some 800,000 small hold farmers.
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