"Prices were firm. There's good strong demand, and some nice, fancy prices being paid for the AA grades," Chris Ransley, managing director of Ransley Coffee Company, said. NCE said a total of 22,419 bags were offered at this week's auction and 17,991 were sold. Last week 31,311 bags were offered and 29,064 sold. The average price for all grades was $258.53 per bag, compared with last week's $236.37.
"In essence, I would say on last season, we are up. We were paying about $198 per 50-kg on average. Now, we are up about $250, $260 on average," Ransley said. "So basically, we are going to see firm demand going forward. We don't see this dissipating." Kenyan beans are sought after for blending with coffee from other regions, although the country is a small grower compared with other producers. Prices rose towards the close of 2009 as dry conditions depressed output.