1 Ksh Billion Worth of Tea Remains Unsold

East African Tea Traders Association (EATTA) announced that during the tea auction last week out of 12.4million worth of tea to be sold only 5.4 million kilos remained unsold incurring a 1 billion setback.

“There was reduced demand for the auction offerings of 189,120 packages (12.43 million kilograms) with irregular quality and uncertainties in the market due to KTDA reserve prices resulting in many more teas remaining unsold (50.37 percent),” said EATTA.

The auction, however, received a marginal scale increase of Ksh 170 from Ksh 168.

The Tea packages worth 1 billion are said to be unsold due to state-imposed reserve prices and lower quality produce on offer. The state-imposed reserve prices set by Agriculture Cabinet Minister Peter Munya were geared to protect Kenyan tea farmers from receiving losses.

The directive required traders to pay a minimum of Ksh 183 a kilo for KTDA tea. In retaliation, buyers snubbed KTDA tea on the first auction and geared to buying cheaper teas from multinationals and private producers.

However, the minister said that he would not reverse his decision. Chairperson Independent Tea Producers Association, Mr. Collins Oketch says they support the minister’s decision.