Tanzanian Benchmark Coffee Price Rises 15% at Auction

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Tanzania’s benchmark coffee grade climbed 15 percent at an auction yesterday as buyers replenished their stocks ahead of the Christmas holiday, the state-run Tanzania Coffee Board said.

The top Arabica AA grade increased to an average of $198.80 for a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag, from $172.97 a week earlier, the board said in an e-mailed report today from Moshi in northern Tanzania. Supplies of the grade jumped 69 percent to 2,616 bags, it said.

All the other grades gained, with the average price rising $24 per bag. Total supplies declined 5 percent to 11,159 bags, the board said. Arabica accounted for 90 percent of the beans supplied, it said.

Sales rose 21 percent to 11,112 bags, the board said.

Tanzania’s coffee production may fall by as much as 19 percent to 50,000 tons in the 12 months through June, from 62,000 tons in 2008-09 because of drought, Adolph Kumburu, the board’s director general said on June 26.

Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-biggest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast, reaps its crop from April through August. Arabica accounts for 75 percent of Tanzania’s output, while robusta accounts for the rest.

The following are details of yesterday’s auction in U.S. dollars for a 50-kilogram bag:



Grade Offer Sold LowHighAverage
Arabica AA 2,616 2,609 147.40 210.60 198.80
Arabica A 2,039 2,020 142.60 206.20 198.67
Arabica B 3,164 3,151 135 203 192.20
Arabica PB 925 917 135 192 180.30
Arabica C 1,336 1,336 125 184 171.91
Robusta FAQ 1,079 1,079 62.20 62.50 62.30
To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Source:bloomberg.com/