Kenya tea prices steady at latest auction

Thursday, 30 May 2013 00:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: The average price of Kenya’s top-grade Broken Pekoe Ones tea held steady at US$ 3.27 per kg at auction on Tuesday, unchanged from last week’s sale, trader Africa Tea Brokers (ATB) said.

Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, which is a major source of foreign exchange, earning 112 billion Kenyan Shillings (US$ 1.33 billion) last year. ATB said that Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1) sold at US$ 2.90 to US$ 3.65 per kg, from US$ 3.02 to US$3.51 last week.

Best Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1) fetched US$ 2.50 to US$ 2.94 per kg from US$ 2.82 to US$ 3.24 previously, the broker said. ATB said that Pakistan Packers, Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries bought more tea than last week. Of the 137,946 packages offered for sale, 20.66% was unsold, ATB said. Last week 150,679 packages were offered, with 17.65% unsold.