Kenya export 2.7 tonnes of premium tea to Australia

Workers pluck tea at a farm in Bomet County. Photo: Nation Media Group

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan government exported its first value-added tea to Australia. This new move is meant to boost earnings for the tea farmers and also scale new market for the green gold .

The country’s Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development Mithika Linturi witnessed the export of 2.7 tonnes of premium orthodox tea under the Kenyan Brand ‘Akina’ valued at $29,667 at the port of Mombasa by Empire Kenya EPZ.

Currently Kenya’s export of value added tea stands at 1 per cent ,but the new administration plans to increase the export of processed tea to 50 per cent by 2027.

Linturi “Whereas Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of tea accounting for 28 percent of global tea exports, Kenya's earnings are relatively lower compared to other key tea producing countries such as Sri Lanka and China whose export volumes are lower since it sells unprocessed tea.”

Pakistan and Egypt remain the top markets for the Kenyan tea but the country has been scouting for more markets for its beverage .

Australia has been buying less tea from the auction but volumes have been growing, albeit sluggishly. For instance, the quantities of tea purchased by Australia grew by 20 percent in 11 months to November last year to hit 2,005 tonnes from 1,665 a year earlier.

Thushara de Silva -managing director - Empire Keny laments the high costs of tea bag packaging machines which deter many tea exporters from value addition.

“There are also challenges associated with the high cost of packaging material which attract a Common External Tariff (CET) of 35 percent on import and 16 percent VAT while the quality of packaging materials available locally may not meet the standards required in the export market. This forces us to import such packages from Sri Lanka where materials are zero-rated.”

GAROWE ONLINE