The country has embarked on branding and diversifying its tea with projections to earn US$ 54 million from the product in 2009, up from last year’s earnings of US$ 44 million, the Director General Rwanda Tea Authority (OCIR THE), Anthony Butera, revealed yesterday.

The Ocir boss said that the increase will be a result of the expected tea production of 23,000 tons this year, branded packaging and new varieties of the product.

During an interview, Butera said that they plan to increase sells through a strong marketing strategy.

"We intend to do value addition and look for direct markets outside,” he said.

He said that government, through the authority, plans to partner with private investors to add value to exported tea by packaging it from the country before selling it.

The plans will follow results of an ongoing marketing plan that is being designed in collaboration with Clinton/Hunter Foundation and the OTF Group, a competitiveness consulting firm.

Butera disclosed that they would include developing a market strategy for Rwandan tea after conducting market research, and also come up with a product’s logo and brand.

He added said that an estimated US$ 300,000 was required to do the work and are expected to be completed in about a month time.

"We will be through probably by the end of this month or early next month,” he said.

Rwanda so far produces only one type of black tea and it intends to diversify and include the Orthodox, Green White and flavoured types of tea, says OCIR THE.

Rwandan tea is currently sold in bulk for an average of $2.20 per kg by auction at the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

By packaging the tea from Rwanda and export it in branded packets, the leaves are expected to be sold for more money.

While Rwanda, as most of other regional countries, suffered from post-election violence in Kenya early last year, as it found it difficult to import major products from the country’s ports, its revenues from tea benefited from demand for the product.

"We made very good revenues compared to the previous year,” Butera says.

Tea remains among Rwanda’s leading export cash crops, others being coffee, fresh fruit and vegetables. Butera said tea earned Rwanda US$ 34 millions in 2007.

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