Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a licensed coffee broker in Kenya is to search the Capital Markets Authority’s public licensees register, not a mill noticeboard or a social-media page. The Authority’s register, headed “LICENSEES/ MARKET PLAYERS” and still served on 12 November 2026 at licensees.cma.or.ke, has a separate “COFFEE BROKERS” category at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/12/. That category page, checked the same day, is a table with four official columns: Name, Address, License Number and Website.
On a count of that official COFFEE BROKERS table on 12 November 2026, there were 22 printed name rows, of which 20 carry a unique licence number and two have no licence number in the official table. This guide does not paste the names. Search the exact name and, where one is printed, the licence number. A later official register would supersede that count. A Coffee Board appointment, a Nairobi Coffee Exchange auction result or a CMA-licensed securities broker is not a licensed coffee broker in Kenya merely because it appears in a different official record.
On this page
In this guide
What a CMA coffee-broker licence is
The Capital Markets Authority is the official publisher of this register. The homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, lists coffee brokers as one category among the Authority’s licensees and market players, alongside investment banks, stockbrokers, fund managers and several other distinct headings. A firm can hold more than one type of CMA licence. Each category has to be checked on its own page.
This coffee-brokers table is not a register of the Coffee Board of Kenya, and it is not the daily auction report of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. The Board and the Exchange are part of the wider coffee system, but the public list of CMA-licensed coffee brokers is the category page named above. If you are checking who is allowed to broker coffee under a CMA licence, use that table, not a board appointment notice or an auction results story.
How to search for a licensed coffee broker in Kenya
To check a licensed coffee broker in Kenya, ask for the firm’s exact licensed name and its CMA licence number, then open the official COFFEE BROKERS category rather than a general web search.
On licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/12/, the page provides a search box whose official placeholder, checked on 12 November 2026, is “Search by name or license number.” A GET search on that page returns the matching official row, with the same four columns as the full table. Use that search when you already have a name or a number. If you are browsing the whole category, the 12 November 2026 table loaded as a single page, so this guide does not invent a later page of names.
The register homepage search is narrower. Its official placeholder is “Search by category name.” A search there looks up the category headings, such as “COFFEE BROKERS,” not an individual firm. Do not treat a blank homepage search for a company name as proof that the firm is unlicensed. Open the COFFEE BROKERS category and search there.
Match the licensed name and, where one is printed, the licence number to the documents you were given. The official table identifies a name and, in most rows, a number; it does not, by itself, prove that a particular lot, mill or auction bid was placed by that firm.
What the November 2026 count includes, and what it omits
The count below is from the official COFFEE BROKERS table as served on 12 November 2026, not from a media republication and not from a Business Radar tool. It is the current official snapshot of a licensed coffee broker in Kenya on that category page. This guide does not paste the names, addresses, licence numbers or websites.
There were 22 printed name rows. Twenty of those rows carry a unique licence number. Two rows have no licence number in the official table. That gap is disclosed, not filled in. The printed licence numbers on the page are not a continuous series; unused numbers are not a second official list.
The table does not print a licence-issue date, an expiry date or a status badge such as “active” or “suspended.” It also does not list the estates, co-operatives or auction lots a firm may represent, or the fees it charges. Those questions sit outside this headcount.
How this sits with the Coffee Board and the auction
Checking a licensed coffee broker in Kenya is one step in a coffee sale, not the whole market file. Auction turnout and prices are a separate official record. Business Radar’s published note on a Nairobi Coffee Exchange auction sale is a results story, not a licence list. Leadership of the Coffee Board is also a separate fact, covered in the published item on the Coffee Board of Kenya chair.
Use those pages for auction results and Board news. Use the official COFFEE BROKERS table for the name and, where printed, the licence number of a CMA-licensed coffee broker.
What to do if the name is missing
If the name or licence number you were given does not appear in the COFFEE BROKERS category, check that you used the licensed company name, not only a trading style or a co-operative brand, and that you searched the coffee-brokers page rather than the homepage category search. Then check whether the name is instead connected with the Coffee Board or with another CMA category. Those are different official records.
If it still does not appear, treat the official table as the current public list and ask the firm to show its CMA licence details in writing. The register answers a narrow question: is this name among the 22 official COFFEE BROKERS rows counted on 12 November 2026, and is a licence number printed beside it? It does not, on its own, approve a sale or an auction bid.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official licensed-coffee-broker list?
On the Capital Markets Authority licensees register. The COFFEE BROKERS category, checked on 12 November 2026, is at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/12/. The register homepage at licensees.cma.or.ke lists that category among the Authority’s other licensees and market players.
How many licensed coffee brokers are on the register?
On a count of the official COFFEE BROKERS table on 12 November 2026, there were 22 printed name rows, of which 20 carry a unique licence number and two have no licence number in the official table. That is the current official snapshot of a licensed coffee broker in Kenya on that page, not a later total.
Is a CMA coffee-broker licence the same as a Coffee Board role?
No. A licensed coffee broker in Kenya appears in the CMA COFFEE BROKERS category. The Coffee Board of Kenya is a different official body. Check the CMA table for a broker licence, not a Board appointment notice.
What if the firm is not on the coffee-brokers page?
Search the exact licensed name and licence number on the COFFEE BROKERS category page, not only the homepage category search. If it still does not appear, ask the firm for its current official CMA licence details. A later official register would supersede the 12 November 2026 count.
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