Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union Limited has decried smuggling, saying it is crippling the business of the country’s specialty coffee exporter which has lost half of its export earnings.
The company’s e-business communication and technology officer Joseph Chidwala said in an interview on Monday that in 2024 alone, they were expected to export 350 metric tonnes (MT) of specialty coffee, also known as high grade, but only exported less than 200MT.
He said this is worrying because not only is Malawi failing to meet the market demand, but it is also losing out on potential foreign exchange earnings as the smugglers sell the raw coffee at $3 (about K5 253) per kg, which his far below the specialty’s cost of $9 (about K15 759) per kg.
Said Chidwala: “There have been increases of vending in the areas where we are growing coffee, but these vendors are not just smuggling the coffee, they are also not taking the foreign exchange into the main channels.
“Last year, we managed few containers because all the coffees were smuggled out of the country. Actually, we lost almost 50 percent of our production last year through vendors and smuggling.”
Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union Limited, which exports high-grade coffee to Japan, United kingdom, United States America, South Africa, the Netherland and Belgium produced from four farmer cooperative, said it has engaged Ministry of Trade and Industry on the matter to find a lasting solution.
One of the affected farmers from Phoka Coffee Cooperative in Rumphi, Wifred Mziba, said illegal exports are killing the coffee industry.
He said most of the coffee grown in the Northern Region is smuggled through Tanzania to overseas markets.
The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture earlier indicated that it would engage government to put in place systems to curb smuggling of agricultural commodities such as coffee and legumes to Tanzania through Karonga and Chitipa districts.
Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesperson Patrick Botha was yet to respond on the measures that government has put in place to safeguard such businesses.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs data shows that the export value of coffee has been fluctuating in recent years, raking in $2.8 million (about K4.9 billion) in 2021, falling to $1.1 (about K1.9 billion) in 2022, before picking up to $1.6 (about K2.8 billion) and $3.4 (about K6 billion) in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
The ernings make coffee the eighth top export crop after tobacco, pulses, tea, groundnuts, macadamia, sugar and soya beans while cotton emerging the ninth as at 2024, according to Malawi Government Annual Economic Report 2025.
As at January 2025, Malawi coffee was ranked 10th on the African continent for its high quality.
Mzuzu Coffee is one of the commodities Malawi is banking on to diversify foreign trade into non-traditional products and markets through the National Export Strategy II.
Made from premium quality coffee beans, handpicked and carefully roasted to perfection, Mzuzu coffee offers a rich and smooth flavour, leaving one to crave for more.
Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union is made up of six cooperatives and exports 95 percent of its coffee with five percent consumed locally.
