The government is set to introduce a new levy aimed at financing marketing and research efforts in the lucrative tea industry.

Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe announced plans to establish a Common Tea Marketing Development Fund that will be dedicated to expanding tea market development locally and internationally.

“We have new regulations and next week I might be gazetting them, which will assist in developing the sector, among them is the introduction of a Common Tea Marketing Development Fund to assist in marketing and developing the sector,” he spoke during the release of the 2024 Kenya Tea Industry Performance Report in Mombasa

The CS also revealed a proposal to create a dedicated Agriculture Police Unit to protect farmers and the industry as a whole.

This initiative follows a notable increase in earnings from Kenya’s tea exports, which increased by 9 per cent to reach Sh215.21 billion in 2024. Up from Sh196.97 billion the previous year, while local sales also recorded an increase reaching Sh18 billion.

“We have to invest in value addition, and with what is happening to macadamia farmers, it won’t take long before the ban on the export of raw tea is effected. I am urging tea stakeholders to adopt technology and work as a team towards achieving our vision to export value-added teas.”

Tea production experienced growth as well, rising from 570 million kilograms in 2023 to 598 million kilograms in 2024.

Despite these positive figures, political instability in various countries affected the growth in the sector, with a slight increase of Sh1.12 billion in total market value, rising from Sh180.57 billion in 2023.

“Due to market access challenges occasioned by internal conflict in the country, there was a dip in tea exports to Sudan of 12 per cent.

Tea exports to Pakistan also recorded a dip of 2 per cent due to the effects of changes in the sales tax policy in that market, which was effect during the last quarter of the year,” the report stated.

The report shed light on market access challenges resulting from interruptions along the Red Sea shipping route due to attacks on vessels by Yemen terrorist groups.

These disruptions have driven several shipping companies to pause their operations on this route and look to the Southern tip of Africa as a longer and more expensive alternative shipping path from Mombasa.

Kenya’s tea primarily makes its way to the market through the Mombasa auction, which operates on a two-day trading schedule. Secondary-grade teas are auctioned off on Mondays, while premium grades are on Tuesdays.

Any tea not sold on its scheduled auction day is re-entered into a fresh auction catalogue and can return to the auction just twice.

The Mombasa auctions attract keen interest from some of the world’s largest tea-consuming nations. These include the UK, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Yemen, the UAE, Ireland, Somalia, Canada and Singapore. In total, Kenyan tea reaches buyers in more than 50 countries worldwide.