Kampala — Uganda exported 235,578 60-kilo bags of coffee in March, an increase of 45.2% during the same period last year.

This was due to dry weather during the month which aided drying of the beans, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said in its monthly report.

UCDA said 162,227 60-kilo bags were exported in March 2003.

Coffee exports in March were up by 0.16% compared to February's 235,193 bags shipped, the report said.

Coffee export earnings stood at $11.9m up from $11.2m in February while the average price rose by five US cents from $0.79 per kilogramme in February to $0.84 in March 2004.

Cumulative shipment in October/March amounted to 1,267,373 bags worth $58.1m, a slight increase of 0.5% in value but a drop of 14.6% by volume compared to a similar period the previous season.

The report said the rise is contrary to the total coffee exports in the first five months of the coffee year of 2003/2004 when they fell by 21.9% from 1,321,829m to 1,031,795m bags.

UCDA's development manager George Lukwago attributed the increase to the shift in seasons.

He said last year the coffee season ended quickly where as this year's has delayed causing the coffee beans to take long to mature.

"However, coffee production will increase when the seasons stabilise while exports will also increase because we have opened up shops in South Africa, Egypt, China and Denmark," he said.