Afribiz September 26, 2012 Ugandan coffee exports slumped in August Coffee shipments from Uganda, Africa’s largest exporter of the bean and the second largest African producer after Ethiopia, slumped to 233,151 60-kg bags in August, 24.5% lower than the same month last season. The drop in exports, which followed July’s season record of 306,631 bags, is the first fall in monthly volumes since April when exports dropped to a season low of 141,220 bags, 20% below the same month the previous season. However, since March every month’s exports has been lower than the previous season, and by end-August total exports for the season came to 2.8m bags, 10.7% down on last season. The decline in Ugandan coffee exports reflects the decreasing trend in the country’s Robusta output (accounting for 68.9% of coffee exports by the end of July) which is suffering from disease and the lingering impact of heavy rains in May which delayed the harvesting and drying of beans. By the end of July ...