The Capital Markets Authority has granted full coffee brokerage licenses to three companies, allowing them to trade on the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE).
The regulator also granted a six-month extension to a special licence allowing New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union Plc (NKPCU) to trade as a coffee broker.
The special license, which allows NKPCU to broker coffee trade even though it is not a producer of it, remains valid until February next year.
Newly licensed coffee brokerage firms include Nandi Coffee Co-operative Union Coffee Brokers Limited, Meru South Coffee Marketing Company Ltd and Minnesota Coffee Marketers Limited.
The expansion of the pool of licensed coffee brokers is expected to stimulate the introduction of new commodity products and services and increase trading volume in the market, she said.
This brings the total number of fully licensed coffee brokers to 16.
“The Authority continues to implement coffee reforms at its level and as a member of the National Task Force on Coffee Sub-Sector Reforms,” said Wycliffe Shamia, CEO of the Coffee and Coffee Authority.
Kenyan coffee is marketed either through weekly auctions at the National Coffee Centre or sold directly to buyers abroad.
“We see these reforms contributing to increased use of commodity market products and services while enhancing our customers’ experience in the coffee value chain,” he said.
Other brokers licensed by the CMA are Miriu County Coffee Marketing Agency Limited, Kipkelion Brokerage Limited, Murang’a County Coffee Traders Limited, Eastern Kenya United Coffee Marketing Agency and Mount Elgon Coffee Marketing Agency.
The other companies are Embu Coffee Farmers Marketing Agency Limited, Kenya Coffee Marketing Agency Limited, Alliance Berries Limited, Kiambu Coffee Marketing Company, Bungoma Union Marketing Agency Limited and KCCE Marketing Agency Limited.
The list also includes Baringo Kawa Financial Brokerage Limited and Kirinyaga Slopes Coffee Financial Brokerage Limited.
The CMA licensing is part of coffee reforms that the government has been pushing for in recent years. Under the reforms, the 47 provincial governments are responsible for licensing mills, while the CMA licenses brokerage firms.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Food Authority is responsible for licensing coffee buyers.
Coffee is a major cash crop in the country and is grown in 33 counties. In the quarter ending in March, the country sold 14,447 tonnes of coffee, according to the Central Bank of Kenya.