Key findings

• 82 buyers bought coffee at the auction between January 2015 and September 2020, but typically only around 45–55 were active in any one season.
• The four largest buyers, Ibero (K) Ltd, Taylor Winch (Coffee) Ltd, C. Dorman Ltd and Kenyacof, together bought 58% of all coffee sold.
• Concentration rose: the top four's share grew from 50% in 2014/15 to 67% in 2018/19 (64% in 2019/20).
• Average prices paid range from about US$84 to US$301 per bag among the top ten. This reflects buyers specialising in different grades and markets, from mass-market blends to specialty AA.

The biggest buyers

Top 20 buyers at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange by volume, Jan 2015 – Sep 2020

#	Buyer	Tonnes bought	Market share	Avg price US$/50 kg	Value (US$ m)	Lots
1	Ibero (K) Ltd	43,111	19.3%	187	161.3	24,846
2	Taylor Winch (Coffee) Ltd	37,413	16.8%	187	140.1	22,138
3	C. Dorman Ltd	26,775	12.0%	218	116.7	13,740
4	Kenyacof	22,360	10.0%	213	95.2	12,326
5	Louis Dreyfus Commodities (K) Ltd	13,685	6.1%	172	47.1	8,693
6	Diamond Coffee Co. Ltd	11,096	5.0%	186	41.3	5,684
7	Rashid Moledina and Co. (Msa) Ltd	9,676	4.3%	84	16.3	7,029
8	Sondhi Trading Limited	7,252	3.3%	183	26.5	5,238
9	Servicoff Limited	4,651	2.1%	301	28.0	2,265
10	Engelhart Co	4,439	2.0%	217	19.2	2,805
11	Mumbi Coffee Ltd*2	4,245	1.9%	185	15.7	2,325
12	Mombasa Coffee Ltd	3,562	1.6%	65	4.6	2,252
13	Sasini (K) Ltd	3,403	1.5%	248	16.9	1,675
14	Sangana Commodities Ltd	2,892	1.3%	238	13.8	1,231
15	Alanwood Ltd	2,646	1.2%	150	8.0	2,218
16	East Africa Gourmet	2,379	1.1%	294	14.0	1,194
17	Jowam Coffee Traders Ltd	2,205	1.0%	222	9.8	1,371
18	Africoff Trading Co. Ltd	2,196	1.0%	128	5.6	1,657
19	Star Coffee	2,177	1.0%	287	12.5	1,399
20	Rejitek Coffee Co.Ltd	1,866	0.8%	95	3.5	1,246

A buyer’s average price says more about what it buys than about how generously it pays. Buyers with high averages, such as Servicoff Limited, focus on top grades for specialty roasters. Those with low averages buy large volumes of lower grades (mbuni, ungraded and T) for blends.

Concentration over time

Buyer concentration by coffee season

Season	Active buyers	Top 4 share of volume	HHI
2014/15	47	50.4%	902
2015/16	53	54.5%	962
2016/17	47	55.1%	969
2017/18	46	58.2%	1,122
2018/19	46	66.7%	1,287
2019/20	50	63.6%	1,192

The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) adds up the squared market shares of all buyers. It ranges from close to 0 (many small buyers) to 10,000 (a single buyer). It rose from 902 to 1,287 over the period. That is still a market with real competition, but one where the largest exporters carry growing weight in price discovery.

Why it matters

• For growers: when fewer buyers compete for a lot, prices are more exposed to the strategies of a few firms. Direct sales, and selling more top grades that attract specialty buyers, widen the pool of bidders.
• For buyers: smaller and newer exporters can find opportunity in grades and marks that the largest buyers do not target.
• For regulators: the Coffee Act, 2026 (like the 2019 Regulations before it) keeps buying separate from milling, broking and warehousing, and requires exchange trading to comply with competition law. The new Coffee Board, which keeps the industry database and the register of dealers, is well placed to monitor concentration on the buying side. See Kenya coffee laws.

See all licensed exporters and dealers, and read the auction review and prices by county.

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Method: figures are computed from 131,378 lots sold at 204 Nairobi Coffee Exchange auctions. Prices are volume-weighted averages in US dollars per 50 kg bag of clean coffee. Seasons run from October to September; 2014/15 starts in January 2015. Direct sales outside the auction are not included. Grower, county and type are matched through the growers code on each lot. © MyKahawa. You may quote this report with attribution and a link to mykahawa.org.

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