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Quality of tea sold through Mombasa Tea Auction between January and October 2024 led to more competitive bids and considerably higher prices with export volumes recording a 37.5 per cent increase.

October monthly tea report released early this week by Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) indicated that farmers and factories producing high quality tea are set to enjoy better prices as the auction followed quality with “Good” to “Medium” categories.

TBK Chief executive Willy Mutai said that during the month of October 2024, tea offered for sale by the smallholder tea factories managed by KTDA, whose quality is relatively higher, fetched an average price of $2.83 (Sh366) per Kg for the main grades compared to $2.78 (Sh360) recorded during the same period in 2023.

“Depending on the quality band, the leaf grades generally attracted relatively higher prices than the dust and secondary grades, respectively,” he said.

Mutai disclosed that auction sales volume for Kenya tea during the month of October stood at 32.58 million Kgs, which was lower compared to 38.63 million kgs recorded during the corresponding month of 2023.

The total export volume for the month of October 2024 was lower by 9.04 per cent to 4.33 Million Kgs from 47.96 million kgs recorded in the same period of last year to 43.63 Million kgs.

“This was in spite of shipments to more export destinations at 61 compared to 56 for the same period of last year. Lower export volume was attributed to less exports to the traditional and emerging markets, with Pakistan recording less imports by 4.71 million kgs while exports to Egypt were lower by 2.63 Million kgs,” the CEO stated.

Despite lower volume, Pakistan maintained its position as the leading export destination for Kenya tea having imported 13.10 million kgs, which accounted for 30 per cent of the total export volume.

Egypt followed as the second most preferred largest export destination having imported 6.22 million kgs and was followed by UK (3.80 Million kgs), UAE (2.87 million Kgs), Russia (2.77 million kgs); India (2.37 million Kgs), Sudan (1.60 million kgs); Poland (1.23 million kgs); China (1.09 million kgs); and Saudi Arabia (0.69 million kgs).

The top 10 export destinations, majority of which are traditional markets for Kenya tea accounted for 82 per cent of Kenya tea export volume. Apart from Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, all the other traditional markets recorded higher imports for Kenya tea.

Similarly, emerging markets of Oman, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Qatar, Germany and Eritrea recorded improved imports from Kenya. Despite gradual recovery, exports to Sudan have continued to be affected by internal conflict, which has been going on for the last one and a half years.

Mutai said that though there was generally good demand for tea offered at the auction, the prices continued to be impacted negatively by relatively higher supply.

He said that the demand for tea at the auction continued to be affected by the effects of global economic shock experienced in most countries due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis and market access challenges owing to internal conflict in Sudan as well as shipment disruptions through the Red Sea.