Mombasa tea auction prices trend up for the second week in a row
Mr Edward Mudibo, managing director, East African Tea Traders Association. PHOTO | FILE
Tea prices at the Mombasa auction improved by a marginal two per cent in last week’s trading marking the second consecutive rise after a losing streak in the previous sales.
A kilogramme on average sold at Sh214, up from Sh209 in the previous sale with the volume offered going up from 5.2 million kilos to 5.5 million kilos.
“Out of 144,104 packages available for sale, 134,523 were sold with 6.65 per cent remaining unsold,” said Edward Mudibo, managing director East African Tea Traders Association.
Kenya’s export earnings from the crop in the meantime grew by 34 per cent in the third quarter of the current financial year compared to quarter one 2015, helped by high demand from the country’s major buyers and a strong dollar.
Data from the Tea Directorate indicate that the earnings increased to Sh35 billion between January and March compared to Sh26 billion in corresponding period last year.
The value of Kenyan tea per kilogramme in the period under review also improved from an average of Sh219 to Sh277.
Figures from the directorate indicate that exports to the United Kingdom (UK), Egypt and Afghanistan grew substantially while the quantities purchased by Pakistan, which is the country’s leading buyer of black tea grew marginally.
Volumes exported to Egypt between January and March this year went up by 34 per cent to 24 million kgs from 17. 8 million kgs last year.
Exports to Afghanistan increased by 33 per cent from 12 million kgs last year to 16 million kgs this year, while the quantities to the UK went up by 17 per cent to 14.4 million kgs from 12.3million kgs last year.
Kenya’s tea exports to Pakistan registered a little growth with the volume of the export growing by meagre 0.6 per cent to 30.2 million kgs from 30 million kgs in the first quarter of last year.
During the 2014/15 financial year, exports to Pakistan grew by 10 per cent, controlling more than a quarter of the total commodity traded at the Mombasa auction.
Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, a crop that offers a livelihood to thousands of small-scale growers.
The country is trying to open up new markets and expand the existing ones such as China, which has the potential of buying more of the local beverage and shield farmers from low earnings.
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