Poor Farmer

By Ludger Kasumuni The Citizen April 27, 2012 Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s inability to improve coffee quality is denying it an opportunity to enjoy benefits from rising commodity prices in the world market. Kenya has been earning substantially especially from Arabica coffee exports since 2002, said researcher Donald Mmari when presenting his research findings at a Repoa annual workshop recently. Kenya earns more than $200 million a year from coffee exports twice as much as Tanzania’s. “Even after trade liberalisation, the quality of Tanzanian coffee has not increased to that of the level of Kenya’s. Economic liberalisation of the1980s and 1990s was carried out based on comparative advantage. It largely ignored the influence of evolving technology and market dynamics that alter production and cost structures, and structural and institutional constraints that prevented coffee producers from creating and sustaining a competitive advantage,” he said. According to hi...

Brisk trade was also reported in cheap Ethiopian beans, with Djimmah Grade 5 offered well below Central and South American supplies at 24 cents under New York. "I think the roaster interest was focused on the attractively priced sundrieds from Ethiopia," one broker commented. Reuters April 27, 2012 HAMBURG, April 27 (Reuters) - Europe's cash coffee market saw roaster purchase interest in Brazilian beans this week with talk some major multi-national groups were seeking Brazilian supplies, traders said on Friday. "I had good European roaster buying interest in Brazilian arabicas for the second half of this year and the first quarter of 2013," one trader said. "There was talk the favourable market configuration generated some hefty buying interest among some of the big multi-national roasters but it is always difficult to nail down if the multi-nationals have actually bought." Traders said a combination of low arabica   futures, attr...