Traders release tea for sale in price rally

More tea was last week released for sale at the Mombasa auction after the price of the commodity rallied to a six-month high.

A market report by the East Africa Tea Trade Association (Eatta) indicates sellers released stocks as the average price hit Sh235 per kilo of made tea.

Out of 8.9 million kilos available for sale during the Tuesday trading, 7.7 million were offloaded with just 10 per cent of the offer going unsold.

Tea prices have been significantly low in the last two months hitting a low of Sh176 in July, which has seen sellers withdraw from the auction.

Tea farmers affiliated to KTDA earned decreased returns of Sh69.7 billion in 2018/2019 financial year in what the agency attributed to low international prices. The previous year farmers earned Sh84 billion.

The reduced earnings placed Kenya at position two globally in terms of payment to farmers, having paid the growers an average of Sh42 per kilogramme. It followed Sri-Lanka at Sh48.

Kenya is the leading exporter of the commodity in the world, selling 95 per cent of its tea in the global market.