Tea price slide continues to Sh248 on quality concerns

Tea prices remained on a decline for the fourth straight sale at the weekly auction in Mombasa on quality concerns, a market report showed.

Data by the East African Tea Brokers indicates the price dropped to Sh248 in the review period from Sh250 last week.

The decline in value saw 18 percent of the total teas offered for sale withdrawn from the trading floor.

“Fair general demand prevailed for the 151,518 packages in the market with 18.2 percent remaining unsold,” said the Tea Brokers.

The volumes of tea offered for sale went up by 100,000 kilogrammes to mark the fifth consecutive time where the volumes have been growing.

The tea directorate had projected that the price of the commodity will continue rising in future sales as the sector regulator forecasts a decline in production, which will cut down on supplies, hence increasing demand.

Tea production in half-year period to June declined by 26 million kilogrammes when compared with the corresponding period last year on the back of unfavourable weather.

Tea Directorate said green leaf delivered to factories between January and June was 274 million kilogrammes. This compares with 300 million kilogrammes that was realised in the same period in 2020.

The directorate said the unfavourable weather conditions experienced this year, coupled with the effects of cold temperatures that is expected to continue into August and followed by warm temperatures until October would see a lower production trend continue throughout the rest of the year.