Kenya shifts gears in drive to raise coffee exports into America

Posted on :Wednesday , 26th October 2016

Kenya is pushing to increase its market share for coffee in the United States (US) as a means of improving the global visibility of the local commodity.

The government through the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFA) Coffee Directorate on Tuesday said it is also targeting China, South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Nigeria as emerging markets for the coffee.

“Kenya has embarked on an aggressive marketing of her coffee globally. In view of this, the country is set to be the ‘portrait country (main feature)’ during the 2017 Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Exhibition in Seattle, Washington, US,” said Grenville Melli, interim head of the directorate during a briefing in Nairobi.

The SCAA event provides the largest coffee marketing avenue in the world, where producers meet buyers and consumers.

The government is seeking to leverage on various platforms like SCAA, where Kenya is a member, to improve the visibility of the country’s coffee.

“To address the challenges, we shall venture into new markets through participation in various expos, both locally and internationally,” said Richard Lesiyampe, Agriculture principal secretary, in a statement.

As a portrait country in the upcoming SCAA exhibition set for next April Kenya will be given exclusive priority in marketing her coffee in the US during the period of the symposium and exhibitions.

READ: Farmers export batch of processed coffee to Europe

American coffee buyers will also visit Kenya between November 28 to December 3, and tour growing regions, processing plants, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange to order coffee to be brewed during the event.

The event will provide direct marketing linkages between Kenyan coffee producers with America coffee buyers. The country will have a chance to place information about Kenyan coffee under the umbrella of SCAA in selected American media for six months.

The US market is targeted as it has a high consumption rate. This year, US imported 7,000 metric tonnes compared to the previous year’s 4,000 metric tonnes according to the AFA.

The coffee sub-sector has been facing myriad of challenges ranging from inadequate value addition, high cost of production, negative climate change impacts, inadequate affordable credit and poor infrastructure.

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