Uganda coffee grades come down to two numbers: the screen a bean passes through and the defect count in a 300 gram sample. Those two numbers carry more weight on a contract than any other single clause. In the UCDA series tracked on the daily price portal, the October 1, 2026 reading put Bugisu AA at 285.70 US cents per pound and Robusta Screen 12 at 163.56, a spread of 122 cents inside one origin.
This guide sets out what each grade names, where the price steps between grades are wide and where they are thin, what each step is worth on a 60 kilogram bag, and how to write a grade into a specification a shipper can be held to.
What a Uganda coffee grade names
UCDA sorts every export lot by screen size, measured in 64ths of an inch, and by the number of defects allowed per 300 grams. Screen 18 covers beans of 18/64 inch, about 7.14 mm, and larger. A ceiling of 8 defects per 300 grams means the lot is close to clean.
Two species sit under one classification. Arabica from Mount Elgon and the south west carries the Bugisu names. Robusta from the Lake Victoria basin and the central districts carries screen numbers. The grade reference lists the classification for both, and the region guides and variety profiles cover where each one grows and what it is planted with.
A grade is a physical description. It says nothing about the cup, the moisture at loading, or the age of the lot. Two parcels can both be stamped Bugisu AA and drink a point apart on the same table. Grade comes first in a specification because it is the part a third party can check with a sieve.
The Uganda coffee grades price ladder
These are the export grade prices in UCDA's daily series on October 1, 2026, converted at the same day's rate of UGX 3,929.63 to the dollar.
| Grade | Species | USc/lb | USD/kg | UGX/kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bugisu AA | Arabica | 285.70 | 6.30 | 24,751 |
| Bugisu A | Arabica | 284.70 | 6.28 | 24,665 |
| Bugisu PB | Arabica | 284.70 | 6.28 | 24,665 |
| Wugar | Arabica | 283.70 | 6.26 | 24,578 |
| Bugisu B | Arabica | 282.70 | 6.23 | 24,491 |
| Drugar | Arabica | 264.70 | 5.84 | 22,932 |
| Screen 18 | Robusta | 171.56 | 3.78 | 14,863 |
| Screen 15 | Robusta | 166.56 | 3.67 | 14,430 |
| Screen 12 | Robusta | 163.56 | 3.61 | 14,170 |
The same reading shows where the volume sits. Robusta grades carried all but 450 bags of the recorded trade: Screen 15 moved 3,169 of the 6,742 bags, Screen 18 moved 2,471, and Screen 12 moved 652. Drugar accounted for the 450. The higher Arabica grades show no auction volume because those lines sell on direct export contracts rather than on the floor. Screen 15 is the grade that sets the reference price for Ugandan Robusta in practice.
The widest step on the ladder is species, not screen
Inside the top Arabica cluster the grades barely separate. Bugisu AA at 285.70, A and PB at 284.70, Wugar at 283.70 and B at 282.70 sit within three cents of one another. A buyer paying for the AA name over the B name pays about one percent more for coffee inside the same cup range.
Then the ladder drops. Drugar, the dry processed Arabica, sits 21 cents under Bugisu AA. From Drugar to Robusta Screen 18 the fall is 93 cents. The Arabica to Robusta line, not any screen step, is where the money changes hands.
Within Robusta the screen steps are real but small. Screen 18 carries a 5 cent premium over Screen 15, and Screen 15 carries 3 cents over Screen 12. Top to bottom of the Robusta ladder is 8 cents, about 4.9 percent of the Screen 12 value.
What the spread is worth on a bag and a container
On a 60 kilogram bag, the 114.14 cent gap between Bugisu AA and Robusta Screen 18 comes to about USD 151, or UGX 593,000. A 20 foot container of 320 bags, roughly 19.2 tonnes, carries a difference of about USD 48,300 depending on which species fills it.
The Robusta screen ladder is a cheaper argument. Screen 18 over Screen 12 is 8 cents, about USD 10.60 a bag or USD 3,390 on the same container. Small enough that freight and timing usually matter more than the screen, unless the roast profile needs the larger bean.
That is the practical reading of the ladder. Screen premiums that look narrow in cents per pound turn into real money at container scale, and the species decision outweighs every screen decision by a factor of roughly fourteen.
Defect ceilings and end uses
- Bugisu AA: screen 18 and above, a ceiling of 8 defects per 300 grams. Single origin filter roasts and competition lots.
- Bugisu A: screen 17 to 18, 12 defects. Specialty blends and premium espresso.
- Bugisu AB: screen 15 to 17, 15 defects. Filter, cold brew and mid-tier blends that need a clean cup at lower cost.
- Wugar: screen 15 to 17, 18 defects. Washed Arabica for supermarket and large filter programs.
- Drugar: screen 14 to 16, 20 defects. Dark roasts, blends and value lists.
- Robusta Screen 18: screen 18 and above, 8 defects. Espresso blends that need body and crema, and the grade blenders ask for by name.
- Robusta Screen 15: screen 15 to 17, 15 defects. The volume grade, used in commercial espresso and filter.
- Robusta Screen 12: screen 12 to 14, 20 defects. Soluble, extract and high volume commercial roasts.
Screen and defect limits come from UCDA's classification. Moisture is a separate contract term and normally sits between 10 and 12.5 percent on a wet basis for export lots. The processing guide covers how washed, honey and natural preparation change what a given screen delivers in the cup.
How the ladder has moved in 2026
Over the ninety days to October 1, every grade in the series fell. Bugisu AA came down from 329.25 to 285.70 cents per pound, a drop of 13.2 percent. Robusta Screen 18 fell from 191.07 to 171.56, or 10.2 percent, and Screen 12 fell 10.7 percent.
Arabica came down faster than Robusta, so the gap between the two species narrowed across the quarter. The Bugisu AA to Screen 18 spread went from 138.18 cents on July 14 to 114.14 cents on October 1, a contraction of 17 percent.
For a buyer, the direction matters less than the ratio. Arabica still carries a premium of about 66 percent over Robusta at the top of each ladder, and that relationship held through the fall.
Writing a grade into the contract
A grade name on its own is not a specification. Name the species, the grade, the screen, the defect ceiling per 300 grams, the moisture band, and the crop year. Attach a retained sample and say which lab method governs the analysis. Then the quality clause has something to stand on.
The buyer's guide sets out the registration checks and payment structures that sit around the quality clause, and the contract terms guide covers the weight basis and the claim window behind them.
One last point on the auction. Screen 18 and Screen 15 lots are graded on the floor, and that price is public. A lot sold direct still gets graded, but the buyer is agreeing a screen range rather than a floor result. When an offer names Screen 18, the specification should carry the sieve and the defect ceiling that go with it.
Uganda coffee grades run from Bugisu AA at 285.70 US cents per pound down to Robusta Screen 12 at 163.56, and the largest single step between them is the one from Arabica to Robusta. Screens inside each species move the price by a few cents a pound. The species line moves it by more than a dollar a kilogram. Read the grade against the spec, and read the price against both.