The country’s tea industry earned Sh125.25 billion from exports in 2015. This becomes the highest export earning ever, marking an increase of 23 per cent from the Sh101 billion recorded in 2014, the Agriculture, Fisheries and food Authority (AFFA) said yesterday. Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, making it a major foreign exchange earner.
Tea earnings from the domestic market stood at Sh14.6 billion, which represents seven per cent of the total production. This brought the total tea industry earnings to Sh139.8 billion. AFFA Interim Director General Alfred Busolo said the improved earnings are as a result of better prices last year, where a kilogram of tea fetched $2.98 (Sh303) compared to $2.16 (Sh219) per kilogram in 2014.
This was the highest average price recorded at the Mombasa auction. The industry was also further buoyed by the value of the US dollar, which exchanged at a high of over Sh100 to the dollar.
Kenyan tea found its way into 68 markets internationally, with the top five destinations accounting for 72 per cent of the total exports. The markets were Pakistan with 26.2 per cent, Egypt 17.4 per cent, United Kingdom 10.1 per cent, Afghanistan 9.3 per cent and United Arab Emirates at 8.5 per cent.