Kenya’s coffee exports rose sharply in both value and volume terms during the second quarter of 2022. Shipments grew by 48% in the second quarter to 16,597 metric tons, as reported by by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in September. That volume figure was up 39% from the first quarter's 11,924 tons.
Earnings increased by 73% year-on-year to 13.16 billion Kenyan shillings ($108 million) compared to 9.59 billion shillings in 2021. The quarter-on-quarter export earnings rise was 38.6%.
For the month of June, however, export volumes and earnings dipped 16% and 22% respectively, as was the trend in June 2021, when the country exported 3,437 metric tons earning 2.27 billion shillings. The decline in June this year coincided with a drop in all forms of coffee exports from the African coffee producing countries; the continent reported a 2.4% dip to 1.36 million bags for June 2022 according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO).
“For the first nine months of the current coffee year, [Africa's] exports totaled 10.01 million bags as compared with 10.22 million bags in coffee year 2020/21,” ICO adds.
Although Kenya’s traditional export market destinations are mainly Belgium, United States, Germany, Korea, and Sweden, this year it has gained a larger share in new markets that include South Sudan, Uganda, Bahrain, Oman, Ukraine, Estonia, Bangladesh, and Syria.
The increase in export volumes during the second quarter was partly driven by a general increase in Kenya’s coffee production that defied contraction of overall agricultural output according to the KNBS report.
The increase in coffee production, the report says, was one of the factors that mitigated the effects of the overall agricultural sector's output contraction in the first quarter of 2022.
“Activity in the [farm] sector remained subdued following inadequate rains last year and delayed onset of rains during the quarter under review which adversely affected production,” the report says.
The report notes that during the three months of April, May and June, Kenya's “agriculture sector contracted by 0.7% compared to a growth of 0.4% in the same quarter of 2021.”