Kenya is moving to reposition itself with international coffee buyers through a new origin-based trade platform in Nairobi and a sweeping legal overhaul that changes how coffee is traded and how farmers are paid. The launch of the Kenya Coffee Hub on 28 May 2026, alongside recent regulatory and market shifts, is already influencing export volumes, price discovery and payment systems in one of Africa’s best-known origins.
The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) describes the Kenya Coffee Hub as the first origin-based coffee trade convention, designed to bring global buyers directly to Nairobi. According to KNCCI, the hub consolidates sourcing from Kenya and neighbouring producers Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo into a single physical destination in the Kenyan capital. KNCCI reports that Kenya earned USD 297 million from coffee exports to 59 countries in 2025.
At the hub’s launch, KNCCI president Erick Rutto told Capital Business that international buyers are willing to pay a premium of “up to 30 to 50 per cent” when they experience coffee quality at origin rather than through shipped samples. He framed the convention model as a way to capture that additional value within producing countries by facilitating on-site cupping, networking and contracting.
Co-founder of the Kenya Coffee Hub, Joshua Tiampati, said during the same event that information gaps have limited participation in export markets. Speaking to Capital Business, he stated that “the coffee sector has tariffs that are not really written on paper,” arguing that many local actors mistakenly believe exporting is reserved for “cartels,” when in his view the main barriers are standards and measures imposed by foreign markets. Tiampati said the hub’s role is to clarify those requirements for prospective exporters.
Underlying the new platform is a broader restructuring of Kenya’s coffee governance. In March 2026 the Kenya Coffee Act was enacted, re-establishing the Coffee Board of Kenya and creating an independent Coffee Research and Training Institute, according to Daily Coffee News. The law also codifies reforms including a digital Direct Settlement System (DSS) intended to channel auction proceeds more directly to farmers.
Those changes coincide with a period of rising exports and higher recorded farmer payments. Market outlet Streamlinefeed reports that Kenya’s coffee exports reached 12,500 metric tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, up from 10,200 metric tonnes in the same period of 2025. Over the most recent six-month period, total payouts to producers via the DSS surpassed KES 15 billion, Streamlinefeed adds.
Price indicators at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange have also shifted. Streamlinefeed reports that the exchange’s average price rose 22% over the four auction weeks leading up to late April 2026, with some premium Kenyan grades passing $7 per kilogram (KES 910), described as the highest levels in nearly a decade. In a separate policy move, the Capital Markets Authority told ynews.digital on 28 May 2026 that it had licensed two additional coffee brokers, Ahadi Coffee Ltd and Cafforra Coffee Company Ltd, and approved Stanbic Bank as the second DSS provider at the exchange.
Kenya’s export outlook is also expanding. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects that Kenyan coffee exports in 2026 will reach 940,000 60-kilogram bags, nearly 12% higher than the previous year, according to figures cited by KNCCI. Separately, Daily Coffee News, drawing on a USDA report, notes that Kenya’s green coffee production is forecast to rise by roughly 12% to 950,000 bags in the 2026/27 cycle.
Speaking at the Nairobi launch, KNCCI national director Cynthia Nyawira said, “Kenya is a global coffee brand. It is time we owned the conversation that tells that story — on our terms, from our soil,” according to KNCCI. She presented the hub and recent reforms as tools for framing that story directly from origin to visiting buyers.
