Traders at the Mombasa Tea Auction withdrew 4.13 million kilogrammes of tea from the floor last week as they weighed possibilities of the electoral week in Kenya. PHOTO | FILE
Traders at the Mombasa Tea Auction withdrew 4.13 million kilogrammes of tea from the floor last week as they weighed possibilities of the electoral week in Kenya.
Mombasa is one of the regions where the governor’s election did not take place, alongside Kakamega, due to a mix-up of ballot papers.
Yet, according to 32th week Mombasa Tea Auction Market Report, traders removed their produce from the floor of auction despite an increase of price to $2.21 from $2.20, a week earlier.
The total volume traded for Sale of week 32 was less than the previous one, attributed to political tension.
“There was improved demand in some categories while others were irregular following quality for the 189,737 packages (12,357,819.00 kilos) available for sale. 125,040 packages (8,218,263 Kilos) were sold with 34.10 percent of packages remaining unsold,” the East Africa Tea Traders Association (Eatta) said in their report.
This is the highest amount of tea to be withdrawn this year. However, tea traders’ remaining optimistic the demand and activities at the auction will return to normalcy after the polls whose presidential results were announced on Monday.
This week’s EATTA report on auction showed there has been higher demand of quality tea from Kenya and Rwanda but the auction which trades about more than 520 million kilograms of tea a year has been trading below government set a minimum price of $2.45.
Kenyan government set the minimum price in response to farmers’ reluctance to supply due to low prices that reached an all-time low of $1.80/kg in July 2021, almost at par with the cost of production of $1.70/kg.
This week, auction for 15th, 16th and 17th, the auction registered a decrease of 3,269 Packages (112,558 Kilos) when compared to sale 32. The auction had a volume of 186,468 Packages (12,263,261 Kilos) offered for sale.
Last week, a number of major warehouses were closed from Monday to Thursday while the tea auction was held on Wednesday while the Dust and the Secondary auction was held on Thursday.
The auction demand has been shifting towards cheaper teas.
