A woman plucks tea on a farm in Kiptagich, Kuresoi South in Nakuru County along the Olenguruone- Bomet road in this photo taken on Monday, May 03, 2021. PHOTO | JOHN NJOROGE | NMG
East African Tea Traders Association (Eatta) said the value of the beverage increased to Sh276 per kilogramme in the latest sale up from Sh265 per kilogramme that was recorded on the last trading day of 2021.
The price of the beverage had been on a losing streak from November last year before rebounding in the last four sales of 2021.
The price of tea at the Mombasa auction started the year on a good note, rallying to a six-year high, raising hopes of good earnings for farmers in the current financial year.
East African Tea Traders Association (Eatta) said the value of the beverage increased to Sh276 per kilogramme in the latest sale up from Sh265 per kilogramme that was recorded on the last trading day of 2021.
The price of the beverage had been on a losing streak from November last year before rebounding in the last four sales of 2021.
The price increase in the latest auction defied a growth in volumes during the auction, which was 448,980 kilos more when compared with the previous trading.
“There was an improved general demand for the 191,560 packages (12.6 million kilos) available for sale with 160,200 packages (10.7 million) being sold while 16.37 percent of the packages remained unsold,” said the Eatta.
The previous losses witnessed in November and part of December saw the average price of the beverage decline to below the minimum cost of $2.43 (Sh274) per kilogramme that was introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture last August to safeguard farmers earnings after the cost of the commodity hit a decade low of Sh186 per kilogramme.
There is a high likelihood that the prices of the beverage will hold in the coming weeks as the country enters the dry season, which will hurt the production of green leaf on the farms.
