Rwanda tea packers, a privately owned company will export 10 percent of total tea production with added-value this year. The company that is charged with adding value and exporting the product is comprised of various tea companies such as Rwanda Mountain Tea which has a 40 percent stake, Olyana Holding with 40 percent shares and OCIR-THE a government agency owning 20 percent shares.

"The company is supposed to be the vehicle through which value addition of Rwandan tea can be easily channeled,”

Anthony Butera OCIR-THE Managing director said.

According to Butera the value addition exercise will include packaging, branding, blending and marketing of domestic green bulk tea leaves in anticipation of an  increment of unit prices of Rwandan tea. 

Previously, 99 percent of Rwandan total tea production was being exported as bulk tea through Mombasa auctioning which fetched low revenues for the country. 

One kilogram of bulk tea goes for an average of $2.3 at Mombasa while one kilogram of bagged tea in Dubai fetches $20.

In the short run, the objective is to produce 24 million kilograms of green leaves, out of which 2.4 million kilograms will be value added.

"With value addition of 10 percent, the tea sector can move us to $ 90 million by 2011 from $45 million which we earned last year,” added Butera.

This would be a tremendous achievement from the sector given that OCIR-THE has projected to earn at least $90 million by 2020.

However, some major constraints to the exportation of tea include lack of quick reliable air cargo transport, lack of enough factories to produce affordable packaging materials.

With value addition, the country plans to explore virgin markets for Rwandan tea such as Japan, china, South Africa and north America are some of the potential markets.

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