Rwanda Tea Authority (OCIR-THE), a public parastatal charged with overseeing the production and marketing of tea in Rwanda is to invest over Frw100m to revamp the tea sector.

The money will be invested in a new factory with modern machines. The aim is to add value on the tea produced in the country.

"The project is expected to kick start next month. And, the factory will be fully operational by March next year,” the director of Finance OCIR-THE, Jonathan Bisengimana said.

The budgeting officer of OCIR-THE, Philbart Munyandinda also said that in their bid to increase productivity, they intend to increase tea plantation acreage in the country. They will also increase the capacity of factories in the country to handle more tea for both local and international markets.

Last year tea fetched over $25.2m compared to $21m and $18m in 2001 and 2000 respectively. So far total revenue collection from tea this year is $16.9m as of September and is expected to reach a record mark of $40.2m in 2008.

Bisengimana believes that Rwanda’s tea quality will improve and it will help to fetch higher prices if the multi-million factory investment is completed.

About 70 per cent of OCIR-THE’s tea is sold at the weekly Mombasa tea Auction. The rest (30 per cent) is sold to importers and domestic buyers.

In 2001, the average price at auction market in Mombassa was $1.6, but it has hiked to $3 per kilogramme this year. Government has promised to increasing productivity and marketing of tea through supervision and support to plantations.

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