With an increasing focus on quality from international buyers, Rwanda’s tea is selling at a premium at the Mombasa Tea Auction, overshadowing price offers on Kenyan produce.
Market data from the auction reveals that the price of Rwandan tea stood at $2.71 a kilo in the sale held last week against Kenya’s $2.14 for the same quantity.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) offering emerged the second-best tea in terms of value at the auction, fetching $2.47 a kilo.
At the tail end ,was Ugandan tea which fetched $1.35 per kilo.
Rwanda has often led when it comes to the best tea, fetching a premium price compared with others from the region.
“The quality of Rwandan tea has always been high and this is the sole reason the beverage always attracts a premium price,” a tea broker at the auction shared.
On average, all the tea at the auction fetched $2.04 per kilo. These teas comprise the ones that are processed by KTDA, multinational firms and other 10 countries that sell their beverage through the Mombasa auction.
Kenya, the leading tea exporter in the world, leads the auction in terms of volumes with more than three quarters of the produce traded coming from the country.
Prices have remained low at the auction in recent months in what has been attributed to high volumes of the commodity.
However, the prices have picked up in the last two sales, hitting a five-month high in the latest trading.
The volumes have been declining in the last five sales.