Kenya’s tea exports jumped 24.7 percent in the third quarter (Q3) ended in September to hit a new high amid increased shipments to destination markets as compared to a similar period in 2022, the Central Bank said Monday in a new economic report.
East Africa’s biggest economy exported 146,340 tonnes of tea worth 50.1 billion shillings (about 328.2 million U.S. dollars) in the three months, a rise from 136,725 tonnes worth 263 million dollars in a similar period in 2022, the apex bank said.
The increase in shipments and earnings in the third quarter followed the return of major buyers, including Sudan and Russia.
The two nations, alongside Iran, are Kenya’s key markets that had maintained low participation in the country’s tea auctions or kept off altogether in the first half of the year, according to a recent report by the Tea Board of Kenya.
In the period under review, a tonne of Kenyan tea was sold at an average of 2,233 dollars, an increase from 1,925 dollars in a similar period in 2022, the bank said.
The major buyers of Kenya’s tea are Pakistan, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.
Tea is one of Kenya’s main foreign exchange earners, besides tourism, and horticulture, with the country earning 993 million dollars from the cash crop in 2022, an increase from 979 million dollars in 2021.
