Coffee trees in Uganda, Africa’s largest producer of the robusta variety, are benefiting from more rainfall before the harvest starts in October.
The rain will benefit flowering for the main harvest which runs from October to February, Joseph Nkandu, executive director of the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises, said by phone today from Kampala.
“Rains are enhancing the blossoming of the crop,” he said. “We shall have a bumper October to February harvest if we are not hit by a drought.”
Uganda will produce 3.5 million bags of coffee in 2013-14 which started in October, the most since 1999-2000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Robusta output will be 2.8 million tons and the rest arabica. Arabica futures traded in New York climbed 52 percent this year and robusta prices rose 11 percent in London.
Fred Ojambo for bloomberg.net