Kenya has lowered its coffee production and export earnings projections for the 2012/13(October-September) coffee year due to poor global prices and reduced crop acreage, the industry regulator said on Friday. Although the east Africa nation is a small coffee producer compared with other global producers such as Brazil and Vietnam, its speciality beans are sought by roasters who blend them with poorer quality beans from elsewhere.
The Coffee Board of Kenya said it expects production of 44,000 tonnes of coffee, down from the previous year's 49,003 tonnes. Export earnings for the season could dip to 17 billion shillings ($195.07 million) from the 19 billion shillings realised in the previous period.
The regulator had earlier this year projected the country would produce 45,000 tonnes of coffee and earn 18 billion shillings from exports. "The global prices have been disappointing this year and that will reflect on the country's overall earnings. We had hoped that there would be change but the trend of poor prices has dragged on," Loise Njeru, managing director of the Coffee Board of Kenya told Reuters.
She also blamed a decline in area under coffee plantations, which has over the years fallen to 109,000 hectares from the long-term average of 150,000 hectares. "Land under coffee has gradually been eaten up by real estate and other crops such as bananas," she said. Coffee exports were at one time the leading foreign exchange earner, but poor management in the sector reduced output from a record 130,000 tonnes in 1987/88. Many small-scale coffee farmers disillusioned by poor earnings turned to other crops or sold their land to real estate developers.
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