Kenya is often described as an agricultural success. Underneath, it is a raw material exporter.
By
Shawn Mwatu
Managing Director
Resourceful Ventures
A coffee cherry leaves a farm in Nyeri for a few shillings a kilo. Months later it returns as a branded bag on a Nairobi shelf or a flat white in a London cafe at many times the price. Almost none of the difference stayed in Kenya. The roasting, the grading, the branding, the packaging, the financing, the market relationship. All of it was captured somewhere else.
Kenya’s coffee fetches premium rates on international markets; however, at the source, women carry the bulk of the groundwork.
Kenya’s coffee sector is experiencing revival as reforms in marketing, payment systems and direct market access begin to lift…
Charles Mutwiri of Mukarimu Coffee Estates in Meru has returned from the US, where he had gone to look for new coffee markets and…
US coffee drinkers consume an average of 2.8 cups per day, resulting in more than 500 million cups of coffee served every day in…
Kenya’s coffee demand is stagnating as inflation and shifting urban habits slow consumption, even as exports and production rise.
China is presently recording a significant surge in demand for coffee imports, fueled by growing urban consumption, a zero-tariff…
