Updated Wed, June 29th 2016 at 10:02 GMT +3Kenyan tea farming is being weighed down by rising labour costs that could discourage investments and hurt the economy, the Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) said on Wednesday. KTGA said labour costs, which represent about half of the cost of production for its members, were set to rise in line with a labour court ruling earlier this month, increasing production costs by another 9 percent amid a decline in tea prices. It earned 125.25 billion shillings ($1.24 billion) from tea exports last year. "Such wage increases clearly jeopardise the tea industry's future sustainability," KTGA said in a statement published in the local Daily Nation newspaper. The government is eliminating and cutting numerous taxes and levies on the industry to help Kenyan tea become more competitive in global markets.

Source: Standard Digital June 29, 2016 06:56 UTC