Regional tea exports marginally increase despite bad weather
What you need to know:
Tea growing in the region is being supported by the improving volume of exports as seen at the Mombasa Tea auction. Dorothy Nakaweesi writes.
Uganda and Rwanda registered highest sales at the latest Mombasa Tea auction held at the beginning of the year despite distressing weather problems.
The auction which was carried out on January 3 to 4, this year, saw a total of six countries offer tea from the usual nine members.
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo participated in the auction while Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique did not take part.
According to the report from the East African Tea Export Auctions, a total of 8.5 million kilogramme bags were sold up from 8.2 million kilogramme bags sold the previous year.
“The regional countries realised a 2.7 per cent increase in the commodity sold from what was exported the previous year,” the report stated, in part.
Country performance
The report further shows that Rwanda recorded the biggest sale in the region with 26.2 per cent to 420,000 kilogramme bags sold up from 310,000 kilogramme bags sold the previous year.
In the same period Uganda exported a total of one million kilogramme bags up from 993,000 kilogrammes sold the same period last year, indicating a 9.1 per cent increase.
Burundi recorded a 2 per cent increase to 156,000 kilogramme bags up from 152,000 bags sold the previous year.
Kenya, the market leader, registered a slight increase of 0.9 per cent to 6.79 million kilogrammes up from 6.73 million kilogramme bags exported previously.
In the region Tanzania was the only country which recorded 18 per cent drop in sales when it exported 67,000 kilogramme bags down from 79,000 kilogramme bags sold the same period last year.
Despite the increase in the tea exports, there was a decline in the product offered at the auction. The region players offered 9.4 million kilogramme bags down from 9.7 million kilogramme bags offered the same time last year.
Reaction
In an interview with Prosper Magazine about the product performance, the executive secretary Uganda Tea Association, Mr George William Ssekitooleko, said the weather distressed the crop in the region which is the reason why some countries did not participate in the auction.
“The other reason for this performance could be related to farmers not putting in much effort because of the low prices at the global market,” he revealed.
