Uganda Set To Host the 23rd African Fine Coffees Conference in 2027

From Mount Elgon to Brussels to Addis Ababa, Uganda’s coffee story has been building to one moment. That moment arrives at Speke Resort Munyonyo on 17 February 2027. On the evening of Tuesday, 14 July 2026, Uganda’s coffee industry gathered at Speke Resort Munyonyo on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kampala for the official launch of what promises to be the most consequential coffee event in the country’s history.

The 23rd African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition and the 4th African Coffee Week, jointly organised by Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA), will take place at Speke Resort Munyonyo from 17 to 19 February 2027, bringing over 1,000 international coffee players to the heart of Africa’s current coffee export leader for three days of networking, business, tasting, competition, and strategic dialogue about the future of African coffee.

For Uganda, this hosting opportunity represents the culmination of a deliberate, years-long journey to position the country not just as a volume exporter of green coffee but as a premium, globally recognised, and commercially sophisticated coffee origin. In Brussels in June 2026, Uganda demonstrated what its best coffees look like on the world stage as Portrait Country at the World of Coffee Europe expo. In Kampala in February 2027, Uganda will take the next step, bringing the world’s coffee community to the source and showing it precisely where those exceptional coffees come from.

The Journey That Earned Uganda This Platform

Uganda’s right to host the 23rd African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition was not simply assigned. It was earned through a documented and accelerating performance trajectory that has repositioned the country in global coffee markets in ways that few observers anticipated even five years ago.

Uganda is Africa’s leading coffee exporter and the world’s second-largest producer of Robusta coffee, alongside a fast-growing Arabica segment produced across diverse agro-ecological zones. In the twelve months to October 2025, Uganda shipped 8.4 million 60-kilogramme bags of coffee worth US$2.4 billion, representing a 47% increase in volume and a 77% increase in value compared to the previous year. By April 2026, Uganda had exported 8.78 million 60kg bags of coffee worth US$2.38 billion, a rise of 22% in volume and 23% in value compared with the previous year, with Europe remaining Uganda’s biggest market, accounting for 52% of its coffee exports, with Italy and Germany the leading destinations.

These are not simply good numbers. They represent a structural shift in Uganda’s position in the global coffee economy, backed by government investment in quality systems, geographical profiling, traceability infrastructure, and national brand identity that gives international buyers the information and confidence they need to source Ugandan coffee with intention rather than simply by volume.

MAAIF has published comprehensive geographical profiles of Uganda’s diverse coffees, creating compelling market intelligence that documents the distinct flavour characteristics of coffees from Mount Elgon, the Rwenzori Mountains, West Nile, Kibaale, and the central Robusta belt. Uganda has furthermore launched a national coffee brand identity, a mark of quality that signals to international buyers a consistent and verifiable standard regardless of which region or producer the coffee originates from.

Uganda spent June 2026 as the featured Portrait Country at World of Coffee Brussels, Europe’s largest specialty coffee trade event, where it launched its first national coffee brand. And in a remarkable demonstration of market confidence, a specialty auction called The Paradigm Shift, hosted by producer Mountain Harvest and auction house M-Cultivo, drew more than 1,000 bids and closed with a record-breaking top price of US$350.02 per kilogram for a Natural Geisha lot from Rwenzori Estate Farm.

This is the Uganda that the global coffee community will encounter when it lands in Kampala in February 2027.

The Most Ambitious Agenda: Reimagining Fine Robusta

At the July launch event at Speke Resort Munyonyo, Hon. Desire Muhooza, Uganda’s Minister of State for Agriculture, articulated what AAN considers the boldest and most commercially transformative element of Uganda’s AFCA 2027 agenda: a deliberate national plan to reimagine Robusta coffee and reposition it as a fine coffee in its own right.

This is an agenda that deserves serious attention from everyone in the global coffee industry. Uganda is the birthplace of Robusta coffee. The variety originates from the forests of western Uganda, making it not simply an agricultural crop but a forest crop with a geographical and ecological origin story that is as compelling as any in the coffee world. Over 80% of Uganda’s coffee production and exports are Robusta, giving the variety a centrality to Uganda’s coffee economy that no other country in the world can match.

And yet, Robusta has historically been treated as the lesser variety, a commodity ingredient used in blends to add body and crema, priced accordingly and stripped of the origin identity, producer transparency, and premium positioning that defines the specialty coffee world’s engagement with Arabica. Uganda’s Robusta has consequently powered some of the world’s most beloved espresso blends without ever receiving the consumer recognition, the premium pricing, or the origin-specific storytelling that its quality and heritage deserve.

AFCA’s first Fine Robusta auction conducted in Uganda marked an important milestone for the sector, with prices reaching up to US$52.25 per kilogram, demonstrating strong international demand for high-quality African coffees. This result demonstrates that when Uganda’s Robusta is positioned as a fine coffee and offered to buyers through a transparent, quality-focused auction format, the market responds with genuine commercial enthusiasm.

At AFCA 2027, Uganda will build on that foundation by placing the fine Robusta conversation at the centre of the global coffee stage. The conference will explore how Robusta can be positioned directly to final consumers, how its forest origin story can be communicated as a premium differentiator, and how the global specialty coffee industry’s existing frameworks for origin transparency, quality certification, and direct trade can be applied to a variety that has historically been excluded from those conversations.

This is, arguably, the most important agenda item on the table for the global coffee industry at AFCA 2027, and Uganda is the only country in the world credibly positioned to lead it.

What Is AFCA and What Does the Conference Deliver?

Founded in July 2000, the African Fine Coffees Association is a member-based, non-profit organisation that represents producers, traders, government, and other support organisations, with a mission to lead, motivate, and professionalise the African coffee sector by building member capacity, creating market linkages, hosting events, and raising the value of African coffee.

AFCA is currently made up of 11 member countries, including Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia, with the Secretariat headquartered in Kampala, Uganda.

The African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition is the centrepiece of AFCA’s annual programme, and over its 23 editions it has grown into the continent’s most commercially significant and internationally attended coffee trade event. It is where African coffee producers engage face-to-face with the world’s most important buyers, roasters, and importers. It is where the Africa Barista Championship crowns the continent’s finest coffee professional. It is where the African Taste of Harvest regional competition showcases the best coffees produced across AFCA’s member countries. And it is where the policy conversations about sustainability, traceability, market access, and value addition shape the direction of the African coffee sector for the year ahead.

For the third consecutive year, the African Fine Coffees Association partnered with the Inter-African Coffee Organisation to host African Coffee Week, featuring a series of high-level events organised by both institutions, including IACO’s Scientific Conference, a High-Level Policy Forum, and AFCA’s conference and exhibition. In 2027, that African Coffee Week returns to Kampala, expanding the programme across a full week of high-level events that together constitute the most comprehensive gathering of African coffee sector stakeholders anywhere on the continent.

From Addis Ababa to Kampala: The Baton Is Passed

The 22nd African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition was held in February 2026 at the Addis International Convention Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together producers, buyers, industry leaders, and partners from across Africa and around the world to celebrate the quality, diversity, and future of African coffee.

The announcement that Uganda would host AFCA 2027 was made during the closing ceremony of the AFCA 2026 Conference and Expo in Addis Ababa, further cementing the country’s leadership role in Africa’s coffee industry. Accepting the hosting responsibility on behalf of the Government of Uganda, MAAIF’s Commissioner for Coffee Production and Development noted that hosting AFCA 2027 is expected to provide Uganda with a unique opportunity to showcase its coffee diversity, attract investment, expand market linkages, and promote tourism and business opportunities linked to the coffee value chain, and will offer a platform for Ugandan farmers, processors, exporters, and young entrepreneurs to directly engage with global industry players.

Uganda’s performance at the Addis Ababa conference gave a compelling preview of the energy and ambition the country will bring to its own hosting edition. Uganda’s coffee sector took centre stage at the AFCA Conference and Expo 2026, with the country showcasing its growing strength, diversity, and global relevance. Uganda’s exhibition stand featured a wide range of coffees from different agro-ecological zones, drawing attention to the country’s distinct flavour profiles, improved quality standards, and increasing consistency in supply. The prominence of Uganda’s coffee was further elevated by a visit from the Ethiopian Prime Minister, who toured the Uganda Coffee booth and interacted with sector officials.

The Significance of This Moment

Every significant milestone in Uganda’s recent coffee journey, from the record export values and the Brussels Portrait Country selection to the Paradigm Shift auction’s record-breaking price and the Africa Barista Championship victories, has been building toward a moment when Uganda can stand at the centre of the global coffee conversation and tell its story on its own terms, in its own home.

That moment arrives at Speke Resort Munyonyo from 17 to 19 February 2027.

For producers, the conference offers direct access to the international buyers, roasters, and importers who set market prices and define specialty coffee trends. For exporters, it creates the market linkages and commercial relationships that translate production excellence into export revenue. For policymakers, it provides the platform to advance Uganda’s coffee agenda in the context of the continental and global conversations about sustainability, traceability, and value addition that will shape the sector’s trajectory for the decade ahead.

And for the fine Robusta conversation that Hon. Desire Muhooza launched at the July 14 event, AFCA 2027 offers the most important and most credible stage in the world to make the case that Uganda’s Robusta is not a commodity ingredient but a fine coffee with an origin story, a flavour profile, and a heritage that the global specialty market has yet to fully discover.

The countdown has begun. February 2027 is coming. And Kampala is ready.

Disclaimer

Africa Agricultural Network (AAN) is committed to informing and empowering agricultural communities across Africa as per our mandate. This article is intended for informational purposes only. Readers are advised to verify all event details and programme updates directly with the African Fine Coffees Association before making any decisions.