Since the beginning of 2013, Kenya’s tea prices have dropped by as much as 20%, the Financial Times reports. Unusually heavy rains in Kenya have generated high tea yield while slashing the prices of the teas.
At the weekly auction in Mombasa, the prices for Kenya’s premium tea BP1 held at $4.44/kg, almost a 19% drop from the record high price of $5.45/kg in December of 2012.
Tea fields near Kericho, Kenya
Also attributing to the sluggishness at the Mombasa auction is the irregular demand for the premium broken pekoe. Buyers are less interested in the best tea Kenyan farmers have to offer.
Future weather forecasts predict warm and sunny conditions in Kenya which are thought to aid the growth of tea cops, producing an even higher yield and dropping prices even further.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency - a organization comprised of several small Kenyan farmers who are responsible for producing 60 per cent of the country's total output – upped production to 168.4m kg in November and December, up 5.5 per cent from the same period of 2008, according to the Financial Times.
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