The maximum price of Kenya's benchmark grade AA coffee rose for a fourth week in a row to $516 per bag at auction from $502 at the previous sale, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange said.
Although the East African nation is a small producer compared with others such as Brazil, its specialty beans are sought after by global roasters, who blend them with coffee from other regions.
At this week's sale the minimum price on grade AA coffee dropped to $84 from $202 per bag previously, due to the low quality of beans offered.
"It was low quality coffee but was graded as AA and fetched a very low price," said Maurice Kimani, an official of the Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association, which runs the auction.
Some 24,398 50-kg-bags of coffee were offered for sale during the auction, and only 8,307 bags found buyers. Last week, 24,781 bags of coffee were offered and 10,258 sold.
Grade AA COF-AA-KE fetched $516-$84 per bag from $502-$202 per bag at the previous sale, the exchange said. Grade AB COF-AB-KE sold for $283-$161 per bag compared with $275-$163 per bag last week. The value of beans sold was $2.02 million, down from $2.67 million at the previous sale.
-Reuters
