Commodities

Pakistan retains top position in Kenya tea imports

tea

Karachi bought 14.8m kilogrammes of the beverage from Kenya. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Pakistan has cemented its position as the largest buyer of Kenyan tea with stocks worth Sh35 billion in the 10 months to October 2019.

Latest data from the tea directorate indicates Karachi bought 14.8 million kilogrammes of tea, which was a marginal increase from 14.7 million kilos in the previous year.

Pakistan has remained a major buyer of the Kenyan beverage, taking up close to 40 percent of total production.

“Pakistan was the leading destination for Kenyan tea in the review period,” says the Tea Directorate. A total of 420 million kilogrammes were exported through the auction compared with 394 million kilogrammes in the previous year.

About 40 countries imported the beverage in the corresponding period in 2018. During the period, Egypt recorded a significant jump in both value and volume imported. Cairo’s hit Sh20 billion, up from Sh15 billion in the previous period.

United Kingdom, where it is feared that Brexit will affect the volumes of the commodity, recorded a 0.36 percent decline in value to record Sh9.2 billion.

Other key destinations where Kenya exported its tea were UAE (20m kilos) Russia (15m), Sudan (19m), Yemen (12m), Saudi Arabia (5.7m), Switzerland (3.6m) and Afghanistan (9.9m).

Kenya’s top 10 export destinations accounted for more than 80 percent of the export volume with nearly all the major markets recording an increase in imports from Kenya compared with previous year.

A significant higher imports were also recorded among the emerging markets of US, Nigeria, Ireland, Turkey, China, Malaysia, South Africa, Canada, Oman, Chad and Uzbekistan.