Tea exports suffer 26 per cent drop
Worker picks tea from the farm in western Uganda. Tea sales at the Mombasa Auction have gone down as a result of low production of the crop in previous months. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Tea sales at the Mombasa Auction have gone down as a result of low production of the crop in previous months, with the bad weather blamed for poor yields. Dorothy Nakaweesi writes that there are efforts in the region aimed at boosting production, with Uganda’s Operation Wealth Creation planting a lot of trees to effect the positive change; just as other countries are stepping up similar efforts.
East African member countries have recorded a 26 per cent decline in export sales, a latest Mombasa auction report has shown.
The report from the East African Tea Export Auctions held on April 10 and 11 shows that all the eight countries exported a total of 6.8 million (50-kilogramme) bags down from 9.1 million 50-kilogramme bags exported the same period last year.
Country performance
Kenya, the market leader exported 5.4 million 50-kilogramme bags down from 7.4 million it exported in the same period last year. Kenya’s annual tea production in 2016 reached an all-time high of 473 million kilos.
Uganda, the second in the rank, also saw her sales drop to 747,000 50-kilogramme bags down from 847,000 bags exported the same period last year.
In an interview with Prosper Magazine about this performance the executive secretary of Uganda Tea Association (UTA), Mr George William Ssekitooleko, expressed optimism, saying: “This performance is just a one-off decline in sales. With the rains in the region we are bound to see increased yield.”
He said there are efforts to increase tea production through the government programme dubbed Operation Wealth Creation, and a lot of tea has been planted and this will soon see the country’s volumes surge.
Tea is one of Uganda’s traditional export commodities supporting more than 62,000 people and more than 500,000 dependants. Annually, Uganda earns about $90-100 million in the export of tea. Over the years, tea production in Uganda has unsteadily increased.
The crop, which is largely produced in the western Uganda highlands, especially the Tooro region, Bushenyi and more recently introduced to Kabale and Kanungu districts, is the third major foreign exchange earner, contributing 0.36 per cent of Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product.
Europe, Kenya, the Middle East, Russia, and America are the major export destinations for Uganda’s tea.
Other countries
Rwanda exported about 352,000 kilogrammes down from 387,000 it exported the previous year. Burundi also suffered a decline as its sales went down to 190,000 kilogrammes from 264,000 kilogrammes exported last year. Only DR Congo recorded an increase in sales, with the country exporting 15,000 kilogrammes up from 10,000 kilogrammes it sold last year. Mozambique sold 8,400 bags down from 10,000 it exported the previous year.
Prediction
Tea production, this year, is expected to fall by 12.05 per cent to 416,000 metric tonnes from last year’s 473,000 tonnes due to the biting drought, Agriculture and Food Authority has projected.
