Trade terms

Coffee Crop Year

Crop year is a small piece of vocabulary with an outsized capacity to cause confusion, because six origins on one continent use three different conventions and none of them align with a calendar year.

Last reviewed July 20262 min read

Quick answer

A crop year is the twelve-month period a harvest is assigned to, and the convention differs by origin: Tanzania is commonly quoted July–June, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia October–September, and Rwanda and Burundi April–March. Because the conventions differ, a contract should state the crop year explicitly rather than relying on the phrase "current crop".

What a crop year is

A crop year assigns a harvest to a period so that production, exports and stocks can be counted consistently. The period is chosen to start after one harvest finishes and before the next begins, so a single harvest falls entirely inside one crop year.

Because harvests happen at different times in different countries, the natural boundary differs — which is why there is no single global crop year.

The East African conventions

Crop year by origin
Origin	Commonly quoted crop year	Harvest
Tanzania	July–June	June–October (south), July–December (north)
Uganda	October–September	Robusta Nov–Feb and Apr–Jul; Elgon Arabica Oct–Feb
Kenya	October–September	Main crop Oct–Dec; fly crop May–Jul
Ethiopia	October–September	October–January
Rwanda	April–March	March–July
Burundi	April–March	March–July

The crop calendar section shows the underlying agronomic cycles, including the regional variation a single national figure hides.

Two-crop origins complicate it further

Uganda and Kenya both have a main crop and a smaller second crop. Both fall inside the same crop year, but they are different coffees: the fly crop is generally smaller in volume, more variable in quality and picked in different weather.

Specify which crop as well as which crop year — "2025/26 main crop", not just "2025/26".
Kenyan fly crop arrives mid-year and is useful for bridging supply, but the separations are typically less consistent.
Ugandan Robusta’s two cycles are the reason it is available almost year-round.

How to write it

The safest formulation names the harvest, not the label.

Crop clause patterns

Good: Crop 2025/26, main crop, harvested October–December 2025
Acceptable: Crop 2025/26
Unsafe: "Current crop" with no year
Unsafe: "New crop" — means different things at different points in the year

The reason "current crop" is unsafe is straightforward: in April, Rwandan current crop is being harvested while Kenyan current crop is six months old and Tanzanian current crop is nearly a year old. The phrase means something different at every origin and on every date. See current crop versus past crop.

Crop-year-specific offers

Every offer we send states the crop year and, where relevant, which crop within it. Tell us what you need and when you need it landed.

Request Current Crop Offer

Frequently asked questions

When does the coffee crop year start?

It depends on the origin. Tanzania is commonly quoted July–June; Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia October–September; Rwanda and Burundi April–March. Each convention is chosen so a single harvest falls entirely inside one crop year.

Why does the crop year matter in a contract?

Because it identifies which harvest the coffee came from, which determines its age, its likely condition and its price basis. Without it, "current crop" is ambiguous — the phrase means something different at each origin and on each date.

What is a fly crop?

A smaller secondary harvest resulting from a second flowering. Kenya and Uganda both have one. It falls inside the same crop year as the main crop but is a different coffee, generally more variable, and should be specified separately.

Tell us the coffee you need

Lots can be specified by origin, region, process, grade, screen, moisture, defect tolerance, crop year and packaging. Send what you know and we will confirm what each origin realistically supports.