The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has granted full coffee brokerage licences to three companies, allowing them to trade on the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE).
The regulator has also granted a six-month extension to a special licence allowing New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union Plc (NKPCU) to trade as a coffee broker.
The special licence, which allows NKPCU to broker coffee even though it is not a grower, is valid until February next year.
The newly licensed coffee brokers include Nandi Coffee Co-operative Union Coffee Brokers Limited, Meru South Coffee Marketing Company Ltd and Minnesota Coffee Marketers Limited.
The expansion of the pool of licensed coffee brokers is expected to stimulate the introduction of new commodity products and services and increase market turnover, it said.
This brings the total number of fully licensed coffee brokers to 16.
“The Authority continues to implement coffee reforms at its level and as a member of the National Task Force on Coffee Sub-Sector Reforms,” said CMA Chief Executive Wyckliffe Shamiah.
Kenya’s coffee is either marketed through the weekly auctions at the NCE or sold directly to buyers abroad.
“We see these reforms contributing to the uptake of commodity markets products and services while enhancing the experience of our customers in the coffee value chain,” he said.
The other brokers licensed by the CMA are Meru County Coffee Marketing Agency Limited, Kipkelion Brokerage Company Limited, Murang’a County Coffee Dealers Company Limited, United Eastern Kenya Coffee Marketing Agency and Mt. Elgon Coffee Marketing Agency.
Others are Embu Coffee Farmers Marketing Agency Limited, Kinya Coffee Marketing Agency Limited, Alliance Berries Limited, Kiambu Coffee Marketing Company, Bungoma Union Marketing Agency Limited and KCCE Marketing Agency Limited.
The list also includes Baringo Kawa Brokerage Company Limited and Kirinyaga Slopes Coffee Brokerage Company Limited.
The CMA licensing is part of the government-backed coffee reforms in recent years. Under the reforms, the 47 county governments are responsible for licensing millers, while the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) licenses brokerage firms.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) is responsible for licensing coffee buyers.
Coffee is one of the country’s main cash crops and is grown in 33 counties. In the quarter to March, the country sold 14,447 tonnes of coffee, according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
