BUJUMBURA, April 19, 2011- Burundi's coffee earnings from the 2010/11 crop jumped 396 percent to $82.8 million from the previous season due to high volumes and stronger global prices, the industry regulator said on Tuesday.
The estimate is higher than early forecasts of $81.6 million. The sector sold 23,548 tonnes of green beans, up from 6,381 tonnes in the 2009/10 harvest worth $16.7 million.
"Sales tripled compared to the previous season and prices at New York market were generally stronger," said a report by regulator ARFIC.
New York is a reference market for arabica beans from East Africa nations including Burundi.
Coffee is Burundi's top hard currency earner and employs some 800,000 smallholder farmers in the tiny central African nation of 8 million people.
Source : Reuters
