Coffee board starts local marketing campaign

As prices of coffee in the world have plummeted in the past three months, the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) plans to introduce a campaign to promote local consumption of the product.

TCB Director General, Mr Adolph Kumburu told the 'Daily News' in Dar es Salaam yesterday that other plans include penetration to strategic markets. 

“These measures will mitigate market volatility positively, resulting in job creation”, he said.

He was speaking while commenting over the deteriorating coffee prices in the weekly auctions in Moshi. Coffee prices continued with a downward trend at last week auction held in Moshi largely due to the decline of the New York Coffee (NYC) market to 160 from 180 cent per pound in the same period under review.

For example, the overall average price at Moshi exchange were down by 1.11 US dollars (about 1,742.7/-) per 50 kilogrammes for Mild Arabica compared to the previous auction held a week before.

Similarly, the average prices were below the terminal market by 7.01 US dollars (about 12,267.5/-) per 50 kilogrammes for Mild Arabica. The next auction will be held tomorrow.

“The impact of the financial crisis in the Euro zone and in the US has caused roasters and buyers to go very slow in business,” remarked Mr Kumburu. He said the bumper coffee harvest with Brazil expected to produce about 50 million bags as compared to 45 million bags last season.

Likewise, Columbia is expected to have premium crop of high output, where Tanzania coffee belongs to the same group. “Due to the increased output, the market is therefore switching from bullish to bearish where the price of stocks is decreasing,” he said.

If price deterioration persists, Mr Kumburu said revenues from the mainstream coffees is expected to decline as well with the overall income falling to about 10 per cent. However, he remarked that good quality coffees were still fetching higher prices.

Tanzania, Africa's fourth-largest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast, sells mainly Arabica and some robusta coffee. Prices of its Arabica normally track the New York market while those of robusta take their cue from London.

Source: The Daily News,http://www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Sebastian Mrindoko in Dar es Salaam

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