Kenya Coffee Auction Recess Starting on July 18 Amid Low Stocks

Kenya will start its annual coffee auction break on July 18 because of reduced stocks, the Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association said.

The country will conduct four more auctions before going on recess and resume on Aug. 10, Charles Mbaluka, the association’s chief executive, said by phone today from Nairobi, the capital.

“Dealers have little stocks from the old crop,” he said. “Inflows from the new crop are coming ahead of the recess.”

Kenya reaps its early crop from May to July and the main crop from September to December, according to the association. Germany, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Finland are some of the main importers of Kenyan beans, according to the association.

Kenya’s coffee output may climb 39 percent to 51,000 tons in the 12 months through September on improved weather, Louise Njeru, managing director of the Coffee Board of Kenya, said on Feb. 16.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bryson Hull at bhull5@bloomberg.net