Rwanda tea continues to outprice Tanzania's at Mombasa auction
What you need to know:
- Kenya, which is the leading tea exporter in the world, leads the auction in terms of volumes with more than three-quarters of the produce traded coming from within the country.
Rwanda’s tea continues to fetch premium prices at the Mombasa auction, outdoing price offers from other regional countries including Tanzania as buyers remain choosy on quality.
Market data from the auction indicates the price of Rwandan tea stood at $2.83 (KSh326) a kilo in the latest sale against Kenya’s $2.53 (KSh292), Tanzania $1.51 (KSh174) and Uganda $1.43 (KSh165) for the same quantity.
The value of Rwandan tea has been maintaining the lead for many years at the auction on the back of high demand for the beverage.
Rwanda has often led when it comes to the best tea, fetching high prices compared with others in the region.
“Rwandan tea normally has some very unique taste that most buyers will look for in the beverage, a move that has over the years helped to push up its value,” said a broker at the auction.
On average, all the tea at the auction fetched $2.40 (KSh277) per kilo during the sale, which was an increase from $2.38 (KSh274) realised in the previous sale.
These teas comprise the ones that are processed by small-scale farmers affiliated with Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), multinational firms, and five other regional countries that sell their beverages through the Mombasa auction.
All the teas from regional countries are marketed at the Mombasa auction by the East Africa Tea Traders Association before they are shipped out of the country for overseas markets.
Kenya, which is the leading tea exporter in the world, leads the auction in terms of volumes with more than three-quarters of the produce traded coming from within the country.
Prices have been relatively fair at the weekly trading since June last year after the Kenyan government introduced a minimum price of $2.43.
