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| Farmers sort out coffee beans |
Tanzania's
Arabica coffee prices fell at last week's auction, taking their cue from the
New York market, with some traders saying a worsening of the euro zone debt
crisis could hit Europe's demand for the commodity.
State-run
Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said 11,908 60-kg bags were offered at the latest
sale and 7,534 bags were sold. At the previous sale, a total of 18,616 60-kg
bags were up for sale, with 15,280 bags sold.
No
robusta coffee was on offer due lack of supply.
"Prices
have been fluctuating up and down ... the trend has generally been bad, because
our biggest coffee buyers in Europe are in an economic crisis," Geoffrey
Mwangulumbi, executive director of the Association of Kilimanjaro Specialty
Coffee Growers, told Reuters.
"Many
European countries have already signed a pact (for fiscal measures), so this
might restore hope on the futures of these countries and trigger stronger
demand for coffee over the coming weeks and months."
Market
participants said there was a poor take-up of coffee on offer at last week's
auction due to a slowdown in global demand.
"Local
coffee growers were not all encouraged by last week's auction prices in
comparison with the previous auctions at the start of this year," said a
trader at a coffee-exporting company based in the northern Tanzanian town of
Moshi.
Tanzania,
which is Africa's fourth-largest coffee grower after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory
Coast, produces mainly Arabica and some robusta coffee. Prices of its arabica
normally track the New York market, while those of robusta take direction from London.
TCB
expects the 2011/12 (June/April) crop to fall to 45,000 tonnes from 56,247
tonnes in the previous season.
"The
overall average price at the Moshi exchange was down by $45.39 per 50 kg for
mild arabica compared to the last auction,"
TCB
said.
"Average
prices were below the terminal market by $6.57 per 50 kg for mild
arabica."
East
African coffee is normally packed in 60-kg bags, but prices are quoted for
quantities of 50 kg.
Benchmark
grade AA sold at US$182.00-$270.00 per bag, compared with $206.00 $301.60 per bag
previously. The average price was $251.42 per bag, down from $283.74
previously.
Grade
A fetched $191.20-$261.00 per bag, compared with $203.00-$283.00 per bag at the
previous sale, and got an average price of $245.46, down from $273.63
previously.
The
auction was held on Thursday and TCB issued the results on Monday. The next
auction will be held on February 2.
PRICE
(dollars)
GRADE
OFFERED SOLD
LOW HIGH AVERAGE
AA 3,048 1,787
182.00 270.00
251.42
A 1,402 647
191.20 261.00 245.46
AB 4,288 2,668
180.00 269.00 220.21
B 966 683
185.20 259.20 243.69
PB 1,285 864
172.00 253.00
205.83
C 919 885
164.60 223.20 170.55
Source:
Reuters,af.reuters.com, reported by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala—Dar es Salaam
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