Contact
Agriculture

Coffee auctions hit 637,444 bags worth Sh38.3 billion in ten months

By Daniel Ochieng 2 min read
Coffee auctions hit 637,444 bags worth Sh38.3 billion in ten months

Key points

  • Kenya auctioned 637,444 bags of coffee over ten months from 1 October, worth about Sh38.3 billion, per Nairobi Coffee Exchange reporting.
  • Alliance Berries, New KPCU and Kirinyaga Slopes together supplied about 62 per cent of volume among named brokers in the package.
  • Alliance sold 198,509 bags; New KPCU 100,083; Kirinyaga Slopes 95,169; KCCE 51,464; Kipkelion 51,428.
  • Grades AA and AB fetched the strongest prices; Alliance CEO Peter Githinji and agronomist John Chege linked returns to quality, buyer farm visits and cupping uniformity.

Six hundred thirty-seven thousand, four hundred forty-four bags — that is the auction throughput Kenya posted across ten months from 1 October, translating to roughly Sh38.3 billion, The Standard reported from Nairobi Coffee Exchange figures.

Three brokers — Alliance Berries Limited, New KPCU and Kirinyaga Slopes — accounted for about 62 per cent of the coffee brought in the named set. Alliance auctioned 198,509 bags, New KPCU 100,083, Kirinyaga Slopes 95,169, with KCCE at 51,464 and Kipkelion at 51,428. Grades AA and AB led price performance on the cupping table and on the bid sheet.

Quality talk from Mathira to the cupping table

Alliance Berries CEO Peter Githinji, also a farmer in Mathira, Nyeri, credited growers who prioritise quality that overseas buyers will pay for, noting some buyers visit shambas and cooperative committees before locking contracts. Agronomist John Chege said AA and AB stay on top because of bean uniformity and cupping scores when recommended agronomy is followed, turning field discipline into bankable lots rather than volume alone.

Agriculture desk: Agriculture. Verified bag counts, shilling total and broker split from The Standard/NCE package; county-level farmgate price tables and farmer share-of-auction proceeds were not attached to the same summary.

For cooperative treasurers, the next questions are how much of Sh38.3 billion cleared to farmers after milling and marketing costs, and whether AA/AB premiums survive the next main crop. Auction headlines are not the same as household cash, and boards that only celebrate tonnage without publishing second-payment schedules will face the same grower scepticism that has dogged coffee politics for years.

Based on The Standard reporting of NCE sale data (Boniface Gikandi, 11 August 2026). Exchange circulars control official volumes and values.