The Mountain Journal
Tea worth Sh2.24 billion weighing 155.09 million kilogrammes was exported to the international market between July and September this year up from 120.24 million kilogrammes.
In a quarterly report, the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) reveals that during the period the local sale of the commodity was at 8.54 million kilogrammes higher that of the previous year of 8.49 million Kgs for the year 2023/24.
The report by TBK CEO Mr Willy Mutai expounds that earnings were higher on account of more imports by markets owing to gains arising out of depreciation of the Kenyan shilling against USD.
The regulator also underscores the need for the factories to embrace production of quality green leaf through the greenleaf quality assessment programme, through the requisite standards that will enhance the quality of tea produced.
“In the duration, we conducted blind tasting of the teas produced by all the factories, ranked the teas according to the quality and put the lowest ranked factories under the Strategic Quality Improvement Programme,” read part of the report.
On the tea marketing strategy, the regulator has devised a five year strategy that will mitigate against the effects of overreliance on Pakistan and Egypt as the key markets for Kenya tea.
Presently , the absorption of the Kenya tea has been affected by the economic recession faced in the key markets in Pakistan and Egypt as well as the internal conflict in Sudan and the economic sanctions
The report states that a five-year strategy will expand the market focusing on 13 emerging markets.
The focus is on the USA and Canada, Germany and Poland, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Japan and China (Asia) and South Africa and Ghana (Africa).
“The Strategy also targets on developing the traditional markets and putting in place measures to sustain Kenya market share” read the report.
At the same time, KTDA managed factories have been placed on alert to maintain green leaf quality to enable sustain and expand the market.
Also the private factories in the west of the rift are on the spot towards improvement of the quality.
The board led by its Chairman Enos Njeru has urged the directors to ensure green leaf quality is maintained as a way to attract the buyers.
Mr Njeru said there is a policy that requires the players in the tea value chain to observe quality.
“ TBK, Ministry of agriculture, tea factories and agents are all under instruction to ensure the quality of the commodity destined to the market,” said Njeru.
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