This archive report was first published on 11 August 2019.
Published on August 11, 2019, by George Omondi.
International buyers are increasingly focusing on quality, with Rwanda's tea leading the pack in terms of price offers at the Mombasa Tea Auction.
Weekly price offers for Rwandan teas have been on the rise in the last three months, surpassing those of Kenyan produce from the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) outlets.
At the latest auction, broken pekoe-1 (BP1) tea from Gisovu factory in Rwanda attracted a highest bid of Sh550 per kilo, compared to Sh428 per kilo offered for the same grade from Githongo factory in Kenya.
According to William Tindi, an executive at the African Tea Brokers, the price difference is largely due to the quality of the tea.
“Since the grade of tea is the same across the region, that implies quality is what is creating the price difference,” Tindi said.
The Mombasa auction is a significant platform for tea traders, with Kenya accounting for three-quarters of the produce traded there.
