3 counties to gain from specialty tea processing plants
Workers load tea for processing at Chinga Tea Factory in Othaya, Nyeri. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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The move seeks to expand Kenya’s market share beyond the traditional markets of Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan who are the major buyers of black tea.
Kenya Tea Development Agency will set up new production lines for processing of orthodox tea in Meru, Kisii and Kirinyaga to boost sales in the wake of a slump in the sector. Chief executive Lerionka Tiampati said the move aims to expand their market share beyond the traditional buyers.
Orthodox tea is made by rolling whole tea leaves into different sizes while the more common CTC teas are made using the crush, tear, curl process to produce granular particles. Kenya normally produces CTC black tea, which accounts for more than 95 per cent of the commodity that is exported to the global market.
The move seeks to expand Kenya’s market share beyond the traditional markets of Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan who are the major buyers of black tea. Sir Lanka, Morocco and Middle East countries consume more orthodox tea.
“We have to diversify our production to other type of teas for the sector to remain relevant even in times of low international prices,” said Mr Tiampati.
Orthodox tea fetches two times more than black tea of which Kenya is the world’s leading exporter. Currently, the price of tea is at a six year low having gone below the two-dollar mark resulting from volatility in the market precipitated by high volumes.
The tea agency is installing the machines in one of the factories in Meru while the set-up of the equipment in Itumbe will start at the end of the year. At Kangaita in Embu, the factory has started processing, though in low volumes.
Additional lines to process the orthodox tea will be rolled out in all the 12 tea zones in the country in due course as the agency plans to produce more of this variety. The agency is expected to produce five million kilogrammes from the three factories where the special processing lines for this tea are ongoing.
This comes at a time when the government wants to establish a tea fund that will stabilise the price of the commodity in the market with the view to saving farmers from low earnings.
The government has already started scouting for a consultancy to advise the ministry on how to come up with the price stabilising fund within a very short time.
