The State of African Coffee Production in 2023

Original Story Published by: Editor, www.africa.com
Photo Source: Courtesy of Africa.com

Ethiopia is the largest exporter of African coffee production. The country is responsible for harvesting and distributing 3% of the world’s overall coffee bean supply. Hence, the 2022 output was about four million bags of coffee beans.

Uganda is the next leading exporter of coffee beans with almost $595 million in sales annually. Let’s analyze the overall outlook of African coffee production to see where it is going for 2023.

Outlook on Africa’s Coffee Industry

The demand for coffee beans in Africa and worldwide is expected to increase over the coming decade. African coffee beans undergo dry processing, which is the most ancient way of harvesting and packaging coffee beans for shipment.

This natural processing method involves cleaning the coffee beans by hand and drying them under the sun.

Harvesters turn the beans over every so often to ward off mildew growth. Sometimes it can take about a month for coffee beans to be fully ready for shipment.

This age-old harvesting method will keep up with domestic demand and a continual strong standing when marketing the coffee beans to international buyers.

Strengths

Overall, African coffee production makes up 12% of the overall worldwide production of coffee beans. Ethiopia (39%) and Uganda (23%) account for 62% of coffee bean distribution. Cote d’Ivoire comes in third place, producing 13% of coffee beans in the nation.

Tanzania accounts for 6% of African coffee production. Kenya contributes another 5% of the workload.

Plus, the rare peaberry coffee bean hails from these areas in Africa. Rather than two seeds in one coffee bean, peaberry coffee beans have one, which only happens in up to 10% of coffee cherries harvested worldwide.