Effect of exchange rate volatility on Rwandan coffee price and export volumes

Abstract

The main strategy of Rwanda for having a steady growth in coffee export value and revenues was increased sales of speciality coffee. However, global coffee prices are often volatile and Rwanda has little control over the fluctuating global prices. This paper analysed the effect of exchange rate volatility on the price and exports of Rwanda coffee. In order to respond to this question, the monthly time series data on bilateral Rwanda coffee exports and real effective exchange rates from January 2001 to December 2016 were analysed. The cointegration methods and error correction model using the autoregressive distributed lag procedure andGlosten, Jagannathan, and Runkle-Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GJR-GARCH) model were used to analyse the data. The findings showed that the exchange rate volatility resulted in an increase in Rwandan coffee export price in the long run by 1.5% and a decrease in the short run by 0.2%. The findings also showed that the exchange rate volatility affected coffee export volumes in the long run and the short run by 44.4% and 3.8%, respectively. The real income in importing countries increased coffee prices in the long run by 3.0% and coffee export volumes in the long run and the short run by 26.9% and 38.5%, respectively. A review of monetary policy to address the issue of volatility and hedging system adoption in the Rwanda coffee sector should be done in order to stabilize the exchange rate and to consequently avoid its bad effects on coffee price and export volumes.