A report from Business Daily July 16th 2012 states that coffee prices at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange have dropped from a high of Ksh719 a kilogramme($8.679) in January 2011 to a low of Ksh246 ($2.976) in June 2012.  Trying to explain this, the Coffee Board of Kenya Chief Executive, Mrs. Loise W. Njeru said, "the prices have tumbled by 26% this year in Kenya and more than 45%  in the global market owing to over-production of the berries in Brazil".

This fall in prices will hit coffee farmers as well as listed producers like Sasini, kapchorua and Kakuzi and this may increase the price of a 500 gram tin of coffee by 5.7% at your local store. Both the farmers' and the listed producers' earnings were boosted by strong prices and a weak shilling in 2011.

It's however expected that the coffee earnings will be cushioned by the high production this year.  Average prices of all coffee grades have dropped from about Ksh27,500 shillings per 50 Kilo bag to about Ksh18,000 shillings a bag. The prices of the top grade coffee beans, grade AA and AB have also gone down by more than Ksh8000 to sell at Ksh24000 and Ksh30000 a bag respectively in retail. Coffee earned Ksh22 billion last year and projections are that the figures will go up by 10 figures. The Nairobi Coffee Exchange will remain closed until August 10th 2012.