Price of top grade Kenyan tea edges down at auction

Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NAIROBI (Reuters): The average price of Kenya’s top tea grade inched down to $4.11 per kg at this week’s auction from $4.31 per kg at the previous sale, brokers said on Tuesday.

Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, a leading hard currency earner, which earned the country $1.27 billion in 2011.

Africa Tea Brokers (ATB) said Best Broken Pekoe Ones fetched $3.60-$4.62 per kg from $3.93-$4.69 per kg at the previous auction.

Best Pekoe Fanning Ones sold for $3.46-$3.65 per kg, down from $3.56-$3.92 per kg at last week’s sale.

Some 9,283,595 kg (145,370 packages) of tea was offered for sale with 9 percent remaining unsold, ATB said. During last week’s sale, 118,579 packages were offered for sale, with 8.18 percent going unsold.