The price of tea had hit a high of Sh300 in the sale, marking the second time the value of the beverage had crossed Sh300 mark since the beginning of the year.
Tea prices at the Mombasa auction last week remained flat after falling from a three-month high registered early last month.
A market report by East African Tea Traders Association (EATTA) indicates on average a kilogramme of tea fetched Sh285 like in the previous sale.
The price of the commodity had hit a high of Sh300 in the sale, marking the second time the value of the beverage had crossed Sh300 mark since the beginning of the year.
“Out of 134,420 packages (8,730,000kg) available for sale, 119,521 (7,782,596kg) were sold with 11 per cent remaining unsold,” says EATTA in the market report.
During the auction, Pakistani packers were dominant while Yemen and other Middle East nations and Sudan were active but at lower levels. Afghanistan and UK were active but more selective.
Tea production for 2017 is expected to drop by double digits due to the effects of drought. Agriculture and Food Authority says production of green leaf will drop from 473 million kilogrammes in 2016 to about 420 million kilogrammes this year.
Farmers’ earnings from tea is expected to drop in the just-ended financial year with low production expected for the remainder of the year, according to the Tea Directorate.
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