The market saw 10,236,627 kilos traded compared to 10,039,385 last week. Prices at the Mombasa auction and exchange rate of Kenya shilling to the dollar weigh heavily on final earnings by farmers. The tea sector is grappling with oversupply owing to prolonged rainfalls in tea growing areas in the country, which affects auction prices and final pay-out to farmers. The Mombasa Tea Auction is one of the largest in the world where tea from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo is traded. Early this month, Kenya Tea Development Agency announced a Sh649 million pay-out to small scale farmers for their full-year crop delivery to its 54 managed factories.

Source: The Star June 19, 2020 09:56 UTC