Kenya tea earnings seen up 1%, output to drop

Tuesday, 2 October 2012 00:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NAIROBI (Reuters): Kenya’s tea export earnings are expected to rise 1% year on year to 110 billion shillings ($1.30 billion) in 2012, despite a forecast drop in production, the industry regulator said on Monday.

The Tea Board of Kenya said production was expected to fall by 5% to 360 million kgs this year, after frost and delayed rains hurt growth of tea bushes earlier in the year.

“We have experienced severe weather conditions during the first few months of the year,” Sicily Kariuki, the board’s managing director, told a news conference.

Tea exports from the east African country, the world’s leading black tea exporter, fell 6.5% to 214.4 million kg in the January-August period from the same period in 2011. Earnings fell to 70.2 billion shillings from 72.4 billion shillings.

Tea, horticulture, tourism and Diaspora remittances are the country’s top foreign exchange earners.

Kariuki said Kenyan tea fetched an average $3.15 per kg in the January-August period, up from $3 in the same period in 2011.