Uganda's coffee export value for October has increased by 43.9 percent, a monthly report said here on Friday.

According to the monthly report of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), Uganda exported 155,571 60-kilo bags worth 13.4 million U.S. dollars in October.

"Exports were representing an increase of 27.8 percent in volume and 43.9 percent in value compared with October 2005," the report said.

The UCDA attributed the increase in volume to the high carry- over stocks and early onset of the 2006/07 season in some districts.

The volume was constituted by 40,558 bags (26 percent) of Arabica and 115,013 bags (74 percent) of Robusta.

Kiboko (dry cherries of Robusta) sold between 950 Ugandan shillings (51 U.S. cents) and 1,100 shillings (59 cents) per kilogram, FAQ (clean coffee beans) 2,100 shillings (1.13 dollars) while Arabica prices hovered between 2,150 shillings (1.16 dollars) and 2,300 shillings (1.24 dollars) per kilogram.

According to the report, Robusta in London opened at 1,545 dollars per ton for November contracts and closed at 1,510 dollars.

The report said sales to the European Union dropped to 73.6 percent from 75 percent in September, while those to Sudan also went down to 7.6 percent in October from 12 percent in September.

Coffee is one of Uganda's major foreign exchange earners, contributing 21 percent of the total export earnings of Uganda.

In 2005, coffee's contribution to export earnings increased to 172.9 million dollars from 124.2 million dollars in 2004.

Source: Xinhua