By Henry Kinyua
As we came to the end of week 8 of the coffee market, it occurred to me that we are not that badly off as others want us to believe. Let us have a glimpse of how the sector behaved at the same period last year. This is when the Coffee Regulations 2019 and Capital Markets (Coffee exchange) regulations 2020 or you can call them ‘Rigathi reforms’ had not been implemented. I was really interested and to some extent surprised how Sale 8 of 2022 was so similar to Sale 8 of 2023.
In 2023, with the exception of the brokers at the auction/exchange where local names have replaced the previous traders everything else is like a mirror image of 2022.
Here is a table with the comparison
| 2022 | 2023 | |
| Volume traded | 8,638 | 10,372 |
| Number of brokers | 5 | 6 |
| Per centage of top grades | 64% | 46% |
| Maximum price for 50kg Bag($) | 270 | 275 |
| Average price for 50Kg Bags($) | 178 | 180 |
| Number of buyer | 18 | 18 |
Comparison of Brokers at the Auction
| Coffee Brokers 2022 | Coffee Brokers 2023 |
| Coffee Management Services | New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union PLC. |
| Meru County Coffee Marketing | Alliance Berries Limited |
| Sucastainability (K) Ltd | KCCE Marketing Agency Limited |
| Sustainable Management Services | Kipkelion Broker Company Ltd |
| Thika Coffee Marketing | Kinya Coffee Marketing Agency Ltd |
| United Eastern Kenya Coffee Marketing Co. Ltd |
Comparison of Coffee Buyers
| Coffee Buyers 2022 | Coffee Buyers 2023 |
| Ibero Kenya Ltd | Ibero Kenya Ltd |
| Taylor Winch (Coffee) Limited | Kenyacof Limited |
| C.Dorman Ltd | C.Dorman Ltd |
| Diamond Coffee Company Ltd | Taylor Winch (Coffee) Limited |
| Africoff Trading Ltd | Louis Dreyfus Company |
| Sondhi Trading Co. Ltd | Sasini (K) Limited |
| Kenya Coop Coffee Dealers | Sondhi Trading Co. Ltd |
| Javans Coffee Limited | Mumbi Coffee Merchants Limited |
| Jabali The Coffee Company | Rosie Vam Dyke Company Ltd |
| Kenyacof Limited | Global Mark Foods Ltd |
| Alanwood Limited | First Cup Coffee Ltd |
| Sasini (K) Limited | Jabali The Coffee Company |
| Kafe Koko limited | Kenya Nut Company |
| Mumbi Coffee Merchants Limited | Alanwood Limited |
| Global Mark Foods Ltd | Kafe Koko limited |
| Mokal Coffee Ltd | Africoff Trading Ltd |
| Fair to Good | Bekas Systems Ltd |
| Rosie Vam Dyke Company Ltd | Fair to Good |
The question one might ask is “All this noise that the coffee market is being ruined by reforms, is it because we have local largely farmer owned and local Kenyans owned businesses trading at the auction?” Since as the market reports indicate the same buyers at the auction last year are not paying lower this year than they paid last year.
12 coffee unions owned by farmers have so far been licensed by the Capital Markets Authority to participate at the auction indicating a major shift where farmers will sell their own coffee. In the next sale, Kirinyaga county through Kirinyaga Slopes Coffee Brokerage company will be participating at the auction. This is a key milestone and we will discuss it in further details after the sale.
