•Pakistan is the biggest export destination for Kenya’s tea, taking up 38 per cent of the total weekly sales at the Mombasa Tea Auction.
•It is followed by Egypt (18%), UK(9%), UAE, Russia and Sudan each five percent, Yemen (3%) while Afghanistan and Poland each take up two per cent share of the exports.
Kenya’s tea exports to top market of Pakistan remain stable, auction managers have said, despite catastrophic flooding in the South Asian country which has affected millions of people.
Pakistan is the biggest export destination for Kenya’s tea, taking up 38 per cent of the total weekly sales at the Mombasa Tea Auction.
It is followed by Egypt (18%), the UK(9%), UAE, Russia and Sudan each five percent, Yemen (3%) while Afghanistan and Poland each take up two per cent share of the exports.
Iran is at the lower end with one per cent with the rest of the world taking up the remaining.
“We have not seen any impact on exports so far. The market is still stable and since it’s a food, tea continues to be consumed,” East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) managing director Edward Mudibo told the Star
Pakistan has been battered by drastic weather extremes since the start of the year, with recent floods that have left a third of the country underwater creating a humanitarian crisis.
The country has also experienced an economic downturn this year.
In mid-June, the Pakistan population was asked to reduce the amount of tea they drink to keep the country's economy afloat.
It is one of the world's largest importer of tea, buying in more than $600million (Sh71.9 billion ) worth of the commodity last year.
Sipping fewer cups a day would cut Pakistan's high import bills, senior minister Ahsan Iqbal had said, a time when the country was struggling with depleted foreign currency reserves.
The South Asian country’s foreign exchange reserves dropped from around $16 billion (Sh1.9 trillion) in February, to less than $10 billion (Sh1.2 trillion) in the first week of June, which was barely enough to cover the cost of two months of all its imports.
"I appeal to the nation to cut down the consumption of tea by one to two cups because we import tea on loan," Iqbal was quoted by local media.
This however did not affect Kenyan exports as uptake remained high.
“We were afraid that the move would have affected export of teas from Kenya but there hasn’t been any significant indication that the purchases or the demand has gone down," Mudibo said.
He added that the beverage is also treated as a food item and is part and parcel of the country's culture.
"They have gotten roped to the good Kenyan tea,” he said.
Meanwhile, tea auction prices have sustained a good run remaining above the preferred two-dollar mark at the weekly Mombasa auction.
This week, average price increased to $2.25 (Sh 271.35 )when compared to last week when it fectedh $2.24 (Sh 270.14 ).
The total volume traded for was 271,269 kilos more than last week’s.
“Good demand prevailed with prices irregularly closely following quality for the 185,248 packages (12,244,672.00 kilos) on offer. 123,280 packages (8,088,644.00 Kilos) were sold with 33.52 per cent of packages remaining unsold,” EATTA says in its weekly report.
Pakistan Packers, Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries lent strong support with more but selective interest from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and other CIS states.
Egyptian Packers maintained inquiry but at lower levels while UK, Sudan and Bazaar showed selective interest.
“Russia and Iran were quiet while Local Packers showed some activity. Somalia operated at steady rates at the lower end of the market,”Mudibo noted.
The strong dollar to the shilling, which exchanged at 120.56 on Friday, has seen farmers continue to earn more from the crop.
Tea remains a key foreign exchange earner for Kenya.
It accounted for 19.6 per cent of export volumes and was valued at Sh130.9 billion last year, the Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates.