Nepal's 19th National Coffee Day: Setting Support Prices

Various coffee stakeholders in Nepal celebrated the 19th National Coffee Day today on 1st Mangsir, 2080 B.S. (17th November 2023)  under the theme “Encouraging Women and Youth in the Expansion and Conservation of the Coffee Sector and Sustainable Production”.

Accordingly, the National Tea and Coffee Development Board has announced the support price for coffee for the present fiscal year 2080/81 (Mid-July 23 - Mid-July 24) commencing today. The National Tea and Coffee Development Board set prices for three kinds of coffee such as fresh cherry, parchment, and dry cherry.

The Announcement of a support price for farmers contributing to the development of the coffee industry in Nepal is an important step towards ensuring the financial security of these farmers. Support price on coffee ensures that the coffee stakeholders buy coffee from farmers at the support price that they must receive for their hard work. Such an initiative should involve mobilizing farmers toward realizing a sustained ecosystem for growing coffee.

Let us look at the pricing set for various types of coffee:

Fresh Cherry

Fresh cherry ‘A’ grade goes for NPR 100 per kg, while ‘B’ grade sells at NPR 90/kg. The Grade A cherry-producing methods include cultivating at a height exceeding 800 meters, proper fermentation, floating the cherries on water, and finally drying them on raised beds.

Parchment Cherry

Parchment cherry is sold at NPR 500 per kg for the “A” grade and NPR 450 per kg for the “B” grade. 

Dry Cherry

The dry cherry ‘A’ grade sells at NPR 200/kg while the ‘B’ grade goes for NPR 150/kg.

Support Price that was declared for FY 2080/81 is revealed to be superior and more compared with that of FY 2079/80 (Mid-July 22 - Mid-July 23). For grade A, the current support price is higher than the previous price by 5.3%. For grade B, the current support price is +5.9 %. The same applies to the support price of white parchment cherry which increased by 5.3 percent and 7.1 percent depending on the class of “A” and “B”. Dry cherry coffees of ‘A’ grade are up by 17.6%, while those of grade ‘B’, are up by 30.4%.

With the introduction of support price for coffee, the government hopes to instill in the coffee farmers a sense of stability which is meant to reduce the farmers’ exposure to market risks and guarantee them a safe and secure return. It is predicted that this would have a positive trickling effect across the whole coffee industry of Nepal.