Highest price for top Kenya tea grade falls at auction

Money Markets

Kenya is the leading world exporter of black tea. FILE 

By Reuters

The highest price for top-grade Kenyan tea fell to $3.12 per kg at this week's auction from $3.20 per kg last week, Tea Brokers East Africa said on Wednesday.

Kenya is the world's leading exporter of black tea. The crop is a main source of foreign exchange for the east African economy, together with horticultural products and tourism.

 

Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1s) TEABP1-BEST-KE sold at $2.15-$3.12 per kg compared with $2.22-$3.20 per kg last week.

Best Brighter Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1s) TEAPF1-BEST-KE fetched $2.26-$2.70 per kg from $2.30-$2.74 per kg at the last sale.

Tea Brokers said 16.11 per cent of the 146,814 packages, or 9.3 million kg, remained unsold. That compares with 9.88 per cent of the 165,116 packages, or 10.5 million kg, that were unsold last week.

Most of the tea offered at the Mombasa auction is from Kenya, but tea from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and other regional producers is also sold