|
|
Kenya: Organisation Formed to Sell Special Coffee in America
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Business Daily (Nairobi)
31 January 2008
Posted to the web 31 January 2008
Solomon Mburu
A marketing body has been formed to help sell locally-produced specialty coffee in America.
The Specialty Coffee Association of Kenya will market high quality Kenyan coffee in the US, which is one of the fastest growing markets for local produce.
"We expect to sell more high quality coffee in the US with better returns to the farmers," said Mr Peter Mugambi who is in charge of marketing at the Coffee Board of Kenya.
Representatives of local growers floated the idea in June, last year, upon return from a trip to the US.
The Kenyan delegation was represented by the Coffee Board of Kenya, marketing agents, dealers and growers.
The industry representatives had gone for the Specialty Coffee Association of America annual conference that was held at Long Beach in Los Angeles. The conference brought together the world coffee fraternity.
Kenyan coffee dealers in the US formed a similar organisation to complement the Kenyan specialty coffee organisation.
"Kenyan dealers living in the US know and understand the market better and have established distribution networks," said Mr Mugambi.
The US group, which comprises individual buyers and roasters from Kenya, aims at promoting the commodity as the number one quality coffee in the world.
The group urged local coffee growers to form their marketing agencies, which would help them benefit directly from the deal.
Coffee farmers also entered the race to form marketing agencies following the opening of the first window.
They have, however, been dogged by lack of capacity and resources to market coffee directly.
To encourage farmers to form marketing agencies, the government has slashed licensing fees and reduced other requirements.
The US coffee market has been one of the fastest growing for Kenyan coffee since opening up of the second window.
In 2005, the US accounted for eight per cent of the total export market for Kenyan coffee while in 2007, it accounted for 15 per cent of the total export market.
This meant that the market had almost doubled in two years.
Europe, however, continues to be the favourite destination of Kenyan coffee, accounting for 70 per cent of exports with Germany taking the biggest share of 37 per cent.
The US market had for long remained locked to Kenyan coffee since American dealers had to get it from Europe.
|
With the opening of the second window which allows direct sales, American dealers do not have to go through Europe and can buy directly from Kenya.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
