- According to Tea Board of Kenya, the tea industry earned Sh180 billion from exports and Sh16 billion from local sales in 2023.
- By February 2024, Kenyan tea was shipped to 53 export destinations, up from 48 last year
The Kenyan government is planning to broaden the country’s tea export market to boost earnings for farmers.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi announced that the Tea Board of Kenya will soon unveil an action plan targeting both existing and new export destinations.
“Tea Board will be unveiling a five-year tea industry global market expansion strategy covering 13 priority markets,” Linturi said.
These markets include North America (USA and Canada), Europe (Germany and Poland), Asia (Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Japan, and China), and Africa (South Africa and Ghana).
Linturi emphasised the importance of branding Kenyan tea to increase its global visibility.
He said Kenyan tea will be labeled with a mark of origin to enhance its brand recognition.
“This will go a long way in enhancing tea farmers' earnings. Additionally, through public-private partnerships, tea industry stakeholders are encouraged to set up common user facilities in the designated Special Economic Zones, where the government has gazetted incentives for tea value addition,” Linturi said.
He added; “Moving forward, as a government, we expect the country to be exporting at least 50 per cent of processed and branded tea within three to five years.”
According to the Tea Board of Kenya, the tea industry earned the country Sh196 billion last year, with Sh180 billion from exports and Sh16 billion from local sales.
Kenya's tea industry performance highlights for February 2024 indicate that Kenyan tea was shipped to 53 export destinations, up from 48 during the same period last year.
The Tea Board of Kenya report showed that Pakistan remained the leading export destination for Kenyan tea, importing 16.44 million kgs, accounting for 30.6 per cent of the total export volume.
Other key export destinations for Kenyan tea were Egypt (9.79 million kgs), the UK (6.60 million kgs), the UAE (3.50 million kgs), Saudi Arabia (2.14 million kgs), Russia (2.10 million kgs), Iran (1.26 million kgs), Yemen (1.12 million kgs), Poland (1.08 million kgs), and China (1.01 million kgs).
“The top 10 export destinations, most of which are traditional markets for Kenyan tea, accounted for 83 per cent of Kenya's tea export volume. Apart from Iran and Yemen, the other traditional markets recorded increased imports of Kenyan tea,” the Tea Board of Kenya noted.
Notably, Chad took the 11th position, having recently emerged as a key market for Kenyan tea and recording a consistent increase in exports from Kenya.
Prior to the conflict in Sudan, Chad, a landlocked country, would receive its commodity supplies, including tea, through Sudan.
However, due to the conflict blocking trade routes from Sudan, Chad is now using alternative transshipment routes such as Nigeria and Cameroon.”
Last year, imports of Kenyan tea to Sudan were lower by 22 per cent, but most other traditional and emerging markets recorded higher imports, except for Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and the Netherlands, whose demand continues to be affected by the global economic recession caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“There were also shipments to emerging and seasonal markets such as South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Angola, Australia, the Central African Republic, Peru, Israel, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Guinea, Niger, Iraq, Mexico, Italy, and Myanmar. Similar to Chad, South Sudan is also rapidly growing as an emerging market for Kenyan tea,” the tea regulator reported.