The value of Kenyan tea purchased by Pakistan increased by 10.6 percent in the six months to June, extending the Asian nation’s dominance as the top buyer of the beverage from the east Africa nation and helping to cancel out reduced sales to other key buyers.
Fresh data by the Central Bank of Kenya shows that the value of Kenya’s tea exports to Pakistan hit $271. 86 million (Sh35.06 billion) between January and June, marking a significant increase from $245.7 million (Sh31.6 billion) during the same period of 2023
With this, the Asian country increased its share of Kenya’s tea export earnings to 40.6 percent, up from 38 percent last year, which means that Kenya is increasingly relying on a single market for its tea fortunes.
Pakistan has traditionally been the main buyer of Kenya tea due to the country’s large population and its social affinity for tea. But Kenya has over the years been pushing into other markets such as Iran, Kazakhstan, and Russia to ease its reliance on sales to Islamabad.
But even as Pakistan expanded its share of Kenyan tea exports, sales of the popular beverage went down significantly in other main markets particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where sales dropped by 34.6 percent to $35.62 million (Sh4.5 billion).
Sales to Afghanistan and Iran also went down similarly by 76.8 percent to $14.14 million (Sh1.8 billion) and 30 percent to $23.35 million (Sh3 billion) respectively, the CBK data shows.
Other key markets where orders for Kenyan tea declined are Egypt (2.1 percent to $93.34 million (Sh12 billion)), Sudan (68.6 percent to $3.7 million (Sh477 million)) and Ireland (14.7 percent to $10.15 million (Sh1.3 billion)).
Despite the poor performance by the main markets, Kenya earned $668 million (Sh86.1 billion) from tea exports during the six-month period, which is an increase of 4.2 percent from $641 million last year (Sh82.6 billion).
Besides Pakistan, Saudi Arabia emerged as a key buyer of the beverage from Kenya, buying tea worth $30.94 million (Sh4 billion). This is an increase of 74.7 percent compared to $7.8 million (Sh1 billion) it bought during the same period last year.
Sales to Russia and the US also rose by 53.7 percent and 99 percent respectively, while emerging markets increased purchases by 28.6 percent.
“Geopolitical tensions,” East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) Managing Director George Omuga said in response to a question on the cause of the underperformance of sales to markets such as Iran, Sudan, and Afghanistan.
Tea is Kenya’s main cash crop and is a major earner of foreign exchange for the country. The green leaf aimed at the export market is sold to buyers at the Mombasa Tea Auction in US dollars.
The auction, which brings in teas from across the East Africa region, is run by EATTA.
Globally, Kenya is the world’s third largest producer of tea only behind China, which tops the list, and India.
