TANZANIA SEES COFFEE OUTPUT AT SIX-YEAR HIGH AS HARVEST NEAR END

Tanzania expects to harvest the most coffee in six years as better weather and a high crop cycle boosts output in Africa’s fourth-largest producer.

Output for the season that ends next June may climb 51 percent to reach an April forecast of 65,000 tons, Kajiru Kissenge, acting director of coffee development and operations at the Tanzania Coffee Board, said Monday by phone from Moshi, in the north of the country.

The board in April raised its forecast for this season amid improved weather, a high crop cycle and as trees trees planted in recent years add to supply. Harvesting in the north ended last month, Kissenge said. It typically finishes in October in the west and December in the south, according to the board’s website.

The arabica variety accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of Tanzania’s coffee output. The nation follows Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast as Africa’s top producer of the beans.

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