The weekly auction was held on Tuesday but auction results were only made available on Wednesday.

The Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) said the average price for a 50-kg bag rose to US$123,37 compared with US$107,21 per bag at the previous sale.

"Quality was quite good and across the board, prices were up because exporters were fighting each other to get best qualities," a leading exporter said.

"We expect better qualities to come through but don't expect prices to come down in the foreseeable future unless a lot of good coffees come through."

He added that there was a new exporting company at the sale that was buying aggressively.

Traders say they expect even better quality beans harvested in the last couple of months of 2005 to appear on auction catalogues soon.

A total 39 438 bags were offered at Tuesday's sale with 32 157 snapped up compared with 36 082 bags offered at last week's auction.

AB grade fetched higher prices at US$269-US$116 per 50-kg bag from the previous US$223-US$110.

Kenyan coffee - high quality Arabica beans grown mainly around Mount Kenya - is used by roasters to blend with coffees of other origins.

- Nampa-Reuters

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