KAMPALA, April 20 (Reuters) – Uganda’s coffee exports surged 20% year-on-year in March, helped by good prices for the beans and favourable weather, the state-run sector regulator said on Tuesday.

The east African country’s is Africa’s largest coffee exporter and earnings from the crop constitute the second largest source foreign exchange after gold.

Shipments in March rose to 572,839 60-kg bags compared to exports in the same period 12 months earlier, state-run Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said in a report.

The surge was “due to a positive trend in global coffee prices which influenced exporters to offload more coffee,” UCDA said, adding favourable weather also helped. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa)

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