Kenyan tea production hits record high prices but ushered in a “big dive” In announcing the latest news of the country’s tea industry, the Kenya Tea Development Agency stated that between July and October 2020, the price of tea at the Mombasa tea auction dropped by 10% compared to the same period last year.
The price of a kilogram of black tea in the same period last year was US$2.45. The average price this year is only $2.2.
Since the outbreak of Coronavirus in Kenya in March, the average price of all tea at the Mombasa auction has dropped to US$1.89 per kilogram, compared with US$2.01 in the same period in 2019.
This is the third consecutive year that Kenyan tea prices have fallen. At the same time, 54 tea factories registered with the Kenya Tea Development Agency from March to October produced 373.8 million kilograms of tea, a record output.
Alfred, general manager of the Kenya Tea Development Agency, believes that the reason for the large increase in tea production is due to favorable weather conditions and the good farming of tea farmers, while the reason for the decline in tea prices is that the current global tea market exceeds demand and Coronavirus pandemic.
As well as the major exporters of Kenya’s tea, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan are facing political and economic challenges, and their purchasing power has declined, which has further caused the loss of Kenyan tea farmers.
