Demand for Kenyan tea dips globally, report shows

Tea pickers operate a tea picking machine at Nandi Hills in Nandi County. [Kevin Tunoi]

Demand for Kenyan tea has taken a beating in key global markets owing to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a new market report says.

The report released last week by the Tea Directorate revealed that total tea exports decreased by one per cent from 44.7 million kilogrammes sold in the international market in March last year, to 44.2 million sold in March 2020. 

The directorate noted that the depressed demand comes when Kenya has reported an all time high production of tea.

It also observed that surprisingly, some countries that have recorded high numbers of coronavirus cases, for example the UK, US and Italy, imported high volumes of Kenyan tea in the period under review.

Pakistan and Egypt, which usually are the major buyers of Kenyan tea, recorded a 19 per cent and 9 per cent drop in imports of the commodity respectively in March 2020 compared to March 2019.

The report revealed that tea production reached 55.7 million kilogrammes in March 2020. “The increased production was occasioned by high rainfall experienced in tea growing regions,” the report reads.

Pakistan led in the import of Kenyan tea after buying 14.3 million kilogrammes, which accounted for 32 per cent of the total exports volume.

The Asian country bought 17.5 million kilogrammes of tea from Kenya in March last year. Egypt imported 7.1 kilogrammes of Kenyan tea in March this year compared to the 7.8 kilogrammes it imported in March last year.

Egypt’s imports accounted for 16 per cent of the total tea export volumes.

Other market destinations that registered a drop in imports of Kenyan tea include Afghanistan (39 per cent), Iran (68 per cent), Qatar (31 per cent), Japan (66 per cent) and China (31 per cent). 

The UK, US and Italy that have been devastated by effects of Covid-19 recorded an increase of 8 per cent, 102 per cent and 100 per cent respectively. The UK bought 4.1 million kilogrammes, US (459,768 kilogrammes) and Italy 4,600 (kilogrammes) in the review period. 

Other countries that recorded higher Kenyan tea imports include Yemen, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Sudan and Kazakhstan. 

The average auction prices decreased by 6.6 per cent to Sh213.5 (US$1.99) in march this year compared to Sh228.5 (US$2.13) in the same period in 2019. 

Kenya exported tea to 46 countries this year compared to the 43 it exported to last year.