Monday, 21 April 2014 00:00
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Reuters: The highest price for top grade Kenyan tea edged up to $3.18 per kg at last week’s auction from $3.16 per kg last week, Africa Tea Brokers said.
Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea and the crop is a top foreign exchange earner for east Africa’s largest economy, together with horticulture and tourism.
Prices for Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1s) fetched $2.58-$3.18 per kg from $2.57-$3.16 per kg last week, Africa Tea Brokers said in its market report.
Best Brighter Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1s) sold at $2.34-$2.64 per kg compared with $2.30-$2.62 per kg at the last sale.
ATB said 13.83% of the 133,310 packages - or 8.64 million kg- remained unsold. Last week 7.54% of the 117,489 packages, or 7.59 million kg on offer, went unsold.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, United Kingdom and Yemen bought more tea than last week.
The bulk of the tea offered at the Mombasa auction is from Kenya, but it also sells tea from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and other regional producers.
Industry regulator Tea Board of Kenya said earnings from tea rose 2% to 114.4 billion shillings ($1.3 billion) last year, while total output jumped 17% to a record 432.4 million kg.
