Coffee farmers earn highest price of Sh51,669 per bag

Small-scale coffee farmers from Kiambu County earned the highest price of the premium grade AA offered for sale this week at Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE).

Reports from the NCE reveal that farmers from Gititu Farmers Coffee Society earned the highest price of Sh51,669 ($502) per 50 kilogramme bag of Grade AA of Arabica beans during the sale on December 5, 2017.

Last month, NCE Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mbithi indicated that prices are likely to go up at the end of the year following supply of quality beans from Mt. Kenya region.

The society sold 70 bags of beans through their marketing agency Sasini Limited Company. Sasini Company General Manager in charge of Coffee Operations James Muriithi said the Gititu grade AA fetched the highest price ever this year beating other societies that offered the same grade.

This translates to Sh1,033 or $10.04 per kg. "The coffee which was milled and marketed by Sasini Limited was classified as the highest quality in all grades. The impressive price was achieved following rigorous and aggressive training of farmers," said Mureithi.

Gititu's coffee is out of 2,724 bags of grade AA offered for auction during sale Number 7 held on Tuesday.

During the auction, Mbithi said the average price of coffee offered for sale reached Sh23,617 ($229.44), which is a 16.6 per cent increase since the beginning of the 2017/18 coffee season on October 10, 2017.