Stakeholders from across Uganda’s coffee value chain have formally established the Commercial Coffee Producers Association of Uganda (CCPAU), marking a major step toward strengthening the country’s presence in the global coffee market.
The association held its first General Assembly on 19 March 2026, during which founding members formally adopted the association’s framework and elected the inaugural Board of Directors.
The milestone event brought together commercially oriented coffee farmers, exporters, processors, and cooperatives under a single platform dedicated to quality, branding, collaboration, and export growth.
CCPAU aims to bring together businesses which have an emphasis on quality and consistency. According to the association’s founding framework, CCPAU will operate around six strategic priorities designed to deliver measurable value to members.
These include: improving quality and productivity, strengthening knowledge exchange, expanding access to export markets, facilitating access to finance, supplying logistics and fulfilment systems, and branding their Ugandan coffee globally.
By aligning quality, collaboration and commercial strategy, CCPAU seeks to strengthen Uganda’s reputation in the global coffee market, improve margins for producers, increase collective bargaining power and support growth across the entire value chain.
The creation of CCPAU builds on several years of collaboration among private-sector players through the UK Trade Partnerships Programme (UKTP), implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) with the support of the British High Commission.
The association has brought together commercially oriented coffee producers in capacity-building initiatives, international market exposure and structured collaborative activities.
As part of the engagement, Ugandan coffee producers participated in major international trade events, including the London Coffee Festival, Manchester Coffee Festival, and CoffeeFest Madrid, where they promoted Ugandan coffee and established new commercial linkages. These engagements have helped to lay the groundwork for the formal establishment of CCPAU as a private sector platform representing the interests of Uganda’s coffee producers and exporters.
British High Commissioner to Uganda, Lisa Chesney said ‘Coffee is one of Uganda’s most important exports, and the UK is proud to support Uganda’s ambition to move further up the value chain – increasing exports of high‑quality, high‑value products, and building strong, commercially sustainable links with international markets. That ambition aligns very closely with the UK’s own commitment to open, outward‑looking trade partnerships.”
Membership in CCPAU is open to registered businesses across the coffee value chain that are committed to quality production and market development. Members include commercially run coffee farms, nurseries, aggregators and cooperatives, processors and exporters.
With its formal establishment, CCPAU aims to create a strong Ugandan coffee community capable of positioning Uganda as a reliable supplier of high-quality coffee in international markets through supporting members with market intelligence, export readiness, buyer linkages and collective promotion initiatives.
The association will represent its members at international coffee events, facilitate entry into specialty markets and coordinate industry collaboration to improve export quality and consistency. The launch of CCPAU represents an important step toward establishing Ugandan coffee as a recognised brand in the global coffee market.
