Coffee export earnings at Rwf3.6b

Rwanda earned $5.3m (Rwf3.6b) from coffee exports in November, down from $7.3m (Rwf4.9b) in October, statistics from the National Agricultural Export Board indicate.

Thursday, January 09, 2014
Ripe coffee cherries. Export cash went down in November, 2013.

Rwanda earned $5.3m (Rwf3.6b) from coffee exports in November, down from $7.3m (Rwf4.9b) in October, statistics from the National Agricultural Export Board indicate. This was a 26.5 per cent decrease month-on- month. The volumes exported during the month also dropped to 2,306 tonnes compared to the 2,649 tonnes exported in October.Corneille Ntakirutimana, the director in charge of production at NAEB, attributed the decline in export revenues to decrease in volumes "because it was off season for coffee”."During the months of October, November and December, we normally export stored produce,” he explained.NAEB is yet to publish figures for December.The coffee sector is targeting to generate $157m from exports by 2017. This compares to $87m that was expected to be realised from  coffee exports last year.