The first tea auction in 2020 saw an improved demand for the commodity with 11.8 million kilogrammes offered for sale.
Out of 178,431 packages representing the 11.8 million kilos, over 158,000 packages were sold amounting to 10.5 million kilos of tea. This is 127,000 more packages compared to the last sale of 2019.
The asking price of the commodity at the Mombasa Tea Auction also rose.
Market data by the East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) shows the first week’s auction average price increased slightly to $2.23 (Sh226) per kilo, compared to $2.12 (Sh215) in the last week of 2019.
Pakistan and Afghanistan dominated the purchase of regional tea during the auction conducted on Monday and Tuesday.
“Pakistan packers showed increased and strong support and were dominant with more and useful interest from Afghanistan, Egyptian packers and Bazaar. Kazakhstan, other CIS states, Yemen, other Middle Eastern countries, Sudan and Russia were active while UK were active but selective,” the weekly sales report states.
Kenyan tea traded during the auction posted higher volumes at 8.2 million kilos compared to teas from other regional markets.
Ugandan tea traded the second best in terms of volumes, at 1.3 million kilos, followed by Rwandan tea at 559,775 kilos. Other source markets that sold their commodities included Tanzania and Burundi.
However while Kenyan tea posted larger volumes, Rwandan tea continued to rake in better prices selling at an average of $3.18 (Sh323) per kilo against the total average of $2.23 (Sh226).
Various grades of Kenyan tea fetched a total average of $2.35 (Sh238) per kilo while Uganda’s tea attracted the lowest price at $1.24 (Sh125).
Meanwhile, compared to the corresponding first sale of January 2019, this week’s auction posted improvements both in volumes and prices.
9.1 million kilos were sold in the first auction of 2019 compared to the 10.5 million kilos this year.
The Kenyan tea average price of Sh238 per kilo is also higher compared to $2.33 Sh236 it opened with in 2019's first sale.