Pakistan, Kenya's largest tea market, bought beverage worth Sh3.5 billion in September representing a 51 percent rise to cement its position as the number one export destination for the country’s second highest foreign exchange earner.
Tea Directorate said nearly half the tea produced in September was exported to Pakistan.
The regulator notes that Pakistan bought 40 percent of the 37.4 million kilogrammes.
“Pakistan was the leading export destination for Kenyan tea having imported 14.94 million kilogrammes, accounting for 40 percent of the total export volume,” says the directorate.
However, Egypt, which is the country’s second largest buyer of the produce recorded a decline of 22 percent from 7.8 million kilogrammes in September last year to 6.1 million kilo in the same month 2018.
Export of the commodity to all major destinations, with exception of Pakistan, declined in September.
Kenya relies on Pakistan, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Sudan and United Arab Emirates for tea dollars. However, the volumes purchased by the countries have been going down over the years with exports facing trade barriers from different states.
In January, Kenya nearly lost the Pakistan market as the country raised concern over possible contamination of aflatoxin in the commodity, requiring the beverage to undergo rigorous tests that created a backlog on consignment destined to Islamabad.
The Plant Protection Board of Pakistan had issued a directive that all tea imports from Kenya must under-go aflatoxin tests, a move that Kenya protested saying the fungal is not a common occurrence in the produce. The impasse was resolved following a meeting between the two states.
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