Coffee sales at Nairobi exchange hit Sh36b

A farmer affiliated to Gachatha Coffee Factory in Nyeri, sorts out berries. [File, Standard]

Coffee trade at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) in 2024/2025 financial year grew to Sh35.6 billion, marking an increase of Sh10.1 billion from the previous year.

The volume of sales in the annual coffee year in review, however, dropped by 19,766 bags compared to the 2023/2024 financial year, indicating that the product fetched better prices this year.

Analysts attributed the good prices to better offers, especially for grade AA and AB, and a stable or slight increase in the foreign exchange. 

In the year under review, the sales for grade AA substantially increased to 25 per cent from the previous 19 per cent of the total sales, while grade AB rose to 37 per cent from five per cent.

The coffee annual year in the country starts on October 1. However, coffee harvest is mostly in two seasons, between October and December and April and July. A report from NCE indicates that 673,844 bags of coffee were traded on NCE in the year 2024/2025, down from 693,610 bags in the previous year.

The report dated October 8 indicates that 143,354 bags of grade AA and 243,654 bags of grade AB were offered at the auction for Sh8.4 billion and Sh13.8 billion, respectively.

Alliance Berries Ltd was the dominant broker, trading over 247,166 bags this year at Sh13.2 billion, followed by Kirinyaga Slopes with 96,404 bags at Sh5.2 billion.

New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) sold a total of 92,909 bags at Sh4.8 billion. This is, however, a drop from a total of 150,266 bags of coffee it traded in 2023/24 financial year.

Kenya Co-operative Coffee Dealers Ltd, a subsidiary of Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters, traded 58,087 bags at Sh3.1 billion, and Minnesota 48,212 bags at Sh2.4 billion.

Others were Meru with a total of 21,683 bags at Sh1.1 billion, Coffee Estate Bourgeoisie Brokers (CEBBA) with 19,398 bags at Sh1 billion and Murang’a with 8,488 bags at Sh444.6 million.

NCE Chief Executive Officer Lisper Ndung’u said there was a need for the farmers to increase production of the quality grades in the year 2025/2026 to reap more returns from the auction.

She encouraged the farmers to continue marketing their coffee through the Nairobi Auction for the competitive prices.

“The dealers search for grades AA, AB and C. Growers should put more effort into the production of the quality grades highly sought in the market,” said Ms Ndung’u.

Meanwhile, the coffee buyers in the duration bought 656,832 bags for Sh35.6 billion.

Ibero Kenya purchased 179,110 bags (Sh9.3 billion), C-Dorman 114,920 bags (Sh6.7 billion), Louis Dreyfus 95,580 bags (Sh4.7 billion), and Kenyacof 60,306 bags (Sh4.1 billion).

Other buyers were Sasini (50,094 bags) and Sondhi (17,644 bags).

Dealers who bought the fewest bags are Mawingu Exporters and Waziri Coffee, who each bought five bags of coffee for Sh175,716 and Sh205,632, respectively.

Henry Kinyua, a leading coffee value chain expert, said that in the year the coffee market experienced significant shifts in coffee grade distribution between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 seasons, reflecting notable improvements in overall coffee quality.

“In the year under review, premium grade AA coffee increased substantially to 25 per cent from the previous 19 per cent of the total sales. Grade AB in the year rose to 37 per cent from five per cent,” said Kinyua.

Peter Gikonyo, a coffee leader, said there was a need for the government to accelerate the provision of subsidised fertiliser to the farmers in efforts to produce more coffee.

“The government has a duty to increase the distribution of fertiliser in the coffee-growing counties,” said Gikonyo.