ENTEBBE, September 22, 2026 — The Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze, has advised Ugandan farmers not to panic over the recent decline in global coffee and cocoa prices.
Tumwebaze said farmers should understand global market trends and the price movements that affect both consumers and producers.
He said the decline in world prices was linked to changes in global supply and market expectations rather than a fall in global demand.
“The current price fluctuation should not be interpreted as a disappearance of demand for coffee or cocoa, but is largely a response to changing expectations in global supply and inventories,” Tumwebaze said.
Addressing the media in Entebbe on Sunday, Tumwebaze said coffee and cocoa are internationally traded commodities whose prices in Uganda are affected by production, stocks, weather, shipping costs, currency movements and consumption in major producing and consuming countries.
He noted that pressure on coffee prices had been caused partly by increased supplies from Brazil and Vietnam, two of the world’s major coffee-producing countries.
Data from the Agriculture Ministry shows that the average farm-gate price of Robusta Fair Average Quality [FAQ] coffee fell from between Shs 13,500 and Shs 14,000 per kilogramme in September 2025 to between Shs 11,500 and Shs 12,000 per kilogramme during the first half of 2026, a decline of about 14.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the price of Robusta Kiboko fell from between Shs 6,000 and Shs 7,000 per kilogramme last year to between Shs 5,000 and Shs 6,000 this month.
Arabica parchment has moved in the opposite direction, rising from between Shs 14,000 and Shs 15,000 per kilogramme in September 2025 to between Shs 15,500 and Shs 16,000 per kilogramme in September 2026.
The Minister said pressure on Uganda’s coffee sector was being compounded by drought and unusually high temperatures in some major coffee-growing areas, including Masaka, Kyotera, Sembabule, Kalungu and Luwero.
The Ministry estimates that adverse weather has reduced coffee out-turn by about 10 percent, which would affect the value of exports.
In July 2026, Uganda exported 846,376 60-kilogramme bags of coffee, down from 997,105 bags exported during the same period in 2025, representing a decline of about 15 percent.
“A price decline is not the same thing as making a loss. Profitability depends on production costs, productivity per acre, coffee quality and post-harvest handling,” Tumwebaze explained.
Ministry data also indicates that farmers who improve productivity and undertake basic value addition can still break even when the price of FAQ coffee is about Shs 7,000 per kilogramme.
Tumwebaze noted that traders are increasingly rewarding farmers who supply properly harvested, dried and graded coffee, while poorly dried, immature or mixed coffee attracts lower prices.
“Do not panic. Do not harvest immature coffee. Do not compromise quality,” Tumwebaze said.
The Minister also noted that cocoa had experienced a sharp decline in international prices following earlier increases, attributing the fall to expectations of increased global supplies, including a reported 30 per cent increase in Ivory Coast’s cocoa harvest during the June 2025 to June 2026 season.
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