Kenya 2011 tea auction sales dip on poor weather

Monday, 2 January 2012 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NAIROBI (Reuters): Tea sold through the Kenyan auction fell by 4.1 per cent to 333.9 million kg this year from 348.15 million in 2010, Africa Tea Brokers said on Friday.

Kenya, the world’s leading exporter of black tea, exported 247.3 million kg, or 74 per cent of the total, down from 259 million in 2010.

The rest came from eight regional producers including Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Burundi, which sell their produce through the auction in the port city of Mombasa.

Tea bushes across most of east Africa have suffered this year due to a devastating drought but high prices for the best quality Kenyan tea have benefited sales.

A strong dollar against local currencies in most of the tea producing economies helped improve earnings for the exporters.

Other countries that sell their tea through Mombasa are Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Mozambique.

The regulatory Tea Board of Kenya had earlier estimated the country could rake in earnings of about 106 billion shillings ($1.25 billion), up 9 per cent from a year earlier.