TEA NEWS #tea market news

GOOD DEMAND AT IRREGULAR RATES BP1 : East KTDA irregularly easier 5/25 cts to dearer 5/20 cts, West KTDA mostly firm to dearer 2/18 cts, Nandi opened easier 15 cts but were dearer 10/30 cts as the sale progressed, Limuru and Kericho easier 10/40 cts with a few lots dearer 5/15 cts and withdrawals , Uganda irregularly easier 2/6 cts to dearer 2/10 cts.

GOOD DEMAND WITH BUYERS FOLLOWING QUALITY

goo demand

Old teas lose quality over time and do not attract the same price as new teas, losing cash for farmers. It is key to note that there is no other tea auction in the world that has a minimal price in place. Another area that needs to be looked into is a proposal to begin the process of making KTDA a publicly listed company.

We want to do it in a way that appeals to the other standards, appeals to the market itself and also the industry itself,” said Kiarii. He said the certification charges varied from standard to standard and also the scope of the standard.

Former tea directors claim the factories are indebted to the tune of Sh18 billion. The former officials from the Mt Kenya region alleged that the directors' expenses had risen in many of the factories from at least Sh8 million to about Sh12 million annually.

STRONG DEMAND CLOSELY FOLLOWING QUALITY

• Green, white, yellow and black orthodox teas fetch more than Sh500 per kg compared to black crush-tear-curl (CTC) teas which fetch from Sh200 to Sh300 per kg. •There's a big global market for speciality teas and smallholder farmers and factories are being trained to take advantage of it.

Poor leaf quality is to blame for the disparity in the tea bonus earnings between farmers in Kenya Tea Development Agencies (KTDA) in East of Rift and those in the West.

Tea farmers around the country have been urged to embrace diversification from the cashcrop as a way of creating alternative income source.

he plantation owners through their lobby group Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) on their part say that they were forced to send some workers home due to the high operational costs and economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.