Kenya’s tea exports has reported the highest ever recorded earnings of Ksh 180.6 billion last year on account of favourable exchange rate and increased export markets.
Latest data from the Kenya Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) indicates that total earnings from tea exports last year increased by Ksh 42.5 billion from Ksh 138.1 billion reported in 2022 as the industry also enjoyed stable prices.
“This represented a 31pc increase in value of exports and is the best earnings ever recorded by the tea industry over the years,” said TBK.
According to TBK, the export unit price was slightly lower in dollar terms at $2.47 per Kg compared to $2.62 in the previous year.
However, due to the depreciation of the local currency against the dollar to Ksh139.85 compared to Ksh 117.87 in the previous year saw the unit price rise to Ksh 345.32 compared to Ksh 306.64 in the previous year.
In 2023, Pakistan continued to dominate as Kenya’s largest tea buyer with imports increasing 15pc, from 209.59 million kilograms to 181.98 million kilos.
“Pakistan imports from Kenya accounted for 40% of the total export volume, whose value was Ksh 75.22 billion,” TBK stated.
Other markets where Kenyan recorded increased tea sales include Egypt whose import volume was 65.89 million Kgs worth Ksh 22.1 billion, the United Kingdom with 46.14 million Kgs imports valued at Ksh 14.7 billion and United Arab Emirates which imported 28.61 million Kgs of Kenyan tea valued at Ksh 10.2 billion.
Other top importers were Yemen with imports valued at Ksh 9.1 billion, Russia Ksh 5.3 billion, Iran Ksh 4.3 billion and Sudan Ksh 2.9 billion.
“The top ten export destinations, majority of which are traditional markets for Kenya tea accounted for 83.1% of Kenya tea export volume. Compared to the year 2022, more exports were recorded in traditional markets with the exception of UAE, Russia and Sudan, which for the quite a while have been facing market access challenges occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and internal conflict in Sudan, respectively.”
The board says cumulatively for the year 2023, the quantity of tea exports to Russia was down by 4pc while in Sudan it was lower by about 39pc compared to the previous year.
Total export volume during the year increased by 16.1pc, from 450.33 million kilos in 2022 to 522.91 million kilos last year. On the other hand, Kenya witnessed an increase in export destinations from 82 destinations to 92 destinations.
During the year under review, total tea production rose by 6.6ps to stand at 570.26 million Kgs against 535.04 million Kgs for the year 2022.
