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Kiru, Michi, Chinga factories bag top prices in maiden orthodox tea sale
Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mutahi Kagwe tastes the Orthodox Tea during its official Launch at the East African Tea Trade Association (Eatta) auction in Mombasa County on September 24, 2025.
Kiru, Michi and Chinga tea factories netted the highest prices at the maiden orthodox tea held about a fortnight ago, disclosures show.
Records from the regional auction in Mombasa showed that tea from Kiru, which is located in Mathioya, Murang’a County, fetched the highest price at $3.87 (Sh500.15) a kilo during the sale, followed by Michi $3.77 (Sh487.23), Chinga $3.76 (Sh485.94), and Kagwe $3.70 (Sh478.18).
The Mombasa auction on September 24, launched a new trading window for orthodox tea as part of a strategy to boost farmer earnings.
Orthodox tea, which includes white and purple teas, is premium and expensive because of the limited volumes produced in the country against high demand globally. Orthodox tea is made or processed using a traditional method, which includes plucking, withering, rolling, oxidation and drying.
"...Mombasa becomes the first county in Africa to sell orthodox tea, and we cannot ignore the reality that the global tea market has changed. CTC teas, our traditional mainstay, now face flat demand and depressed prices at the Mombasa Auction,” Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said when he officiated at the maiden orthodox tea auction.
The East Africa Tea Traders Association (Eatta), which runs the weekly auction, projects a surge in trade in orthodox tea.
“That was the first orthodox auction (in reference to the September 24, sale). The next one will be in two weeks as we build up critical mass in volumes,” Eatta Managing Director George Omuga said.
Players in the Kenyan tea industry are betting on a shift to specialty teas to improve earnings in the industry, hard-hit by plunging fortunes from dealing in traditional black tea.
Kenya is the only country in the world that produces purple tea, but the country has yet to tap its full potential, even with a ready market.
Last year, Kenya sold a total of 7.51 million kilos of orthodox tea through middlemen, of which 5 million kilos were exported. This was lower than the 12.34 million kilos produced in 2023, largely due to challenges with the Iranian market.
The tea auction in Mombasa has been hit by a sustained pile-up of unsold tea over the last two years amid subdued demand for the black tea sold there. Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, but oversupply and variable weather conditions have negatively impacted price, piling pressure for diversification into niche varieties such as purple and white tea.
