A tea estate: Kericho County recorded the highest production of 93.1 million kilogrammes followed by Bomet at 72.7 million and Nandi 71.4 million kilos. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
An industry report released by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) indicates that earnings dropped from Sh125 billion in 2015 to Sh120 billion last year.
Kenya’s tea export earnings declined by 3.6 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year due to a rise in volumes at the auction whose impact was partly mitigated by a strong dollar.
However, the government yesterday projected record growth of earnings to Sh133 billion this year driven by good prices and reduced volumes.
An industry report released by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) indicates that earnings dropped from Sh125 billion in 2015 to Sh120 billion last year.
Announcing the performance, AFA board chairman Raphael Lekolool said the volumes grew by 18 per cent to 473 million kilogrammes from 399 million kilogrammes in 2015, pushing down the average price of the beverage to Sh236 per kilo last year from Sh298 the previous year.
However, the negative impact was slightly mitigated by strong dollar rates, said Mr Lekolool. The ongoing drought is expected to cut tea production by 12 per cent to 416 million kilogrammes.
Consequently, export volumes are expected to drop by the same margin while export earnings are projected to hit a record Sh133 billion in 2017.
“With regard to auction prices, a 22 per cent increase is expected from an average of Sh236 per kilogramme recorded in 2016 to Sh290,” he said.
Kericho County recorded the highest production of 93.1 million kilogrammes followed by Bomet at 72.7 million and Nandi 71.4 million kilos.
The higher production is attributed to good weather conditions experienced in tea growing areas during the first half of last year.
In 2016, a total of 480.3 million kilogrammes were exported compared with 443.4 million in 2015. During the period under review local consumption increased marginally from 29.3 million kilogrammes to 29.7 million kilos accounting for Sh15 billion on local sales.
Head of Tea Directorate Samuel Ogola said they were still promoting local consumption to lift the current low numbers.
“We are and we will still carry out campaigns to push up the numbers on consumption of local tea,” said Mr Ogola.
Kenya is the leading exporter of tea in the world with over 90 per cent of the commodity finding its way to international markets. In the last financial year, small scale tea attached to Kenya Tea Development Agency earned a record high of Sh84 billion. The tea earned an average Sh300 per kilo.
Out of the total production for 2016, smallholders’ output was 265.6 million kilogrammes (56 per cent) while the large estate sub-sector produced 207.4 million kilogrammes (44 per cent).
