Surprisingly, while Switzerland and the UK lead the way, South Sudan is the only African country among the top 10 world importers of Rwanda’s unique coffee, as per a new report.

Rwanda exported slightly more than 20,000 tonnes of coffee which generated $115.9 million (around Rwf147 billion) in the financial year 2022/2023, representing a 53.39 per cent increase in coffee revenues compared to $75.5 million earned from more than 15,000 tonnes sold at international markets in the previous fiscal year, according to the National Agricultural Export Development Board.

As per NAEB’s 2022-2023 annual report published early February, the latest figures imply that coffee accounted for 13.5 per cent of Rwanda’s total agricultural export revenues that amounted to $857.2 million (around Rwf1 trillion) during the year.

Rwanda’s coffee is acclaimed for its quality, with some of its brands having received global honours for top quality and coffee lovers’ choice – outperforming brands from major coffee-producing countries including Brazil, Columbia, and Ethiopia.

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For the fiscal year 2022/2023, coffee buyers were distributed across the globe, from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa particularly, the report showed.

It specified top 10 countries importing Rwanda’s coffee for the fiscal year under review. The 10 are Switzerland which accounted for 26.04 per cent of the imports, the UK with 21.65 per cent, Finland with 6.7 per cent, the USA with 5.47 per cent, The Netherlands with 5.3 per cent, Germany with 4.02 per cent, Japan with 3.06 per cent, France with 3.06 per cent, South Sudan with 2.88 per cent, and Canada with 2.36 per cent.

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As per the report, during the fiscal year 2022/23, the average price of coffee was around $5.6 per kilo, which is a 12 per cent increase compared to previous years. As noted, high prices prevailed from July to December, followed by a decline until June; a shift that was primarily attributed to the market's early recognition of diminishing supplies in major coffee-producing nations since the outset of 2023.

For instance, Brazil experienced a 23 per cent decrease in coffee exports during the first quarter of 2023, the report showed, adding that the exports of Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties also declined by 24.2 per cent and 28.7 per cent, respectively.

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Addressing low coffee productivity

According to the report, coffee production was constrained by limited productivity due to aging coffee trees, limited input utilisation such as fertilisers, and climate change stresses. The productivity per tree, it is noted, was 2.6 kilos, lower than an anticipated yield of 3.6 kilo per tree in 2022/2023.

To boost coffee production, the report indicated, more than 11.9 million seedlings were effectively planted during the 2023 season A and season B (both covering a period from September 2022 through June 2023).

The cultivated area expanded to 42,229 hectares, up from 39,844 hectares in 2020/2021.

According to the Rwanda Development Board, Rwandan coffee has been one of the best brewed in the world, having scooped some international awards such as "Best of the Best” and "Coffee Lover’s Choice” in international competitions that attracted brands from countries around the world.

Rwandan coffee was also among the top 10 winners of International Barista Championship that took place in China, 2019.

In 2018, Rwandan coffee started trading on the world’s largest e-commerce platform, Alibaba after the Rwanda Government entered into a partnership with the e-commerce giant to trade Rwandan products on the online market.