Exports : Tea exports up by 9.8 percent

Rwanda tea exports had shrieked by some 44.94 percent from $7.2 million (Rwf4.1 billion) between January and February this year to $2.5 million (Rwf1.4 billion) in the same period last year. Ocir-The, the agency in charge of overseeing the development of the tea sector in the country has said that tea exports between January and March increased by 8.9 percent because of increased production, owing a good climate and application of fertilisers. Officials at the Gikondo based government parastatal said last week that the tea sector is yet to be affected by the global economic recession, contrary to what the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) had earlier said. Rwanda tea exports had shrunk by some 44.94 percent from $7.2 million (Rwf4.1 billion) between January and February this year from $2.5 million (Rwf1.4 billion) in the same period last year. The RDB attributed the decline to the global economic down turn but Ocir-The said it was due to low production which came as a result of heavy rainfall. Figures provided to The Business Times by Ocir-The show that in the first three months of 2009 foreign tea sales increased by $1.1 million ($626.3 million) from $10.5 million (Rwf5.98 billion) in the same period last year, fetching higher export prices. Between January and March this year, Rwanda’s exported tea managed to bring in $2.22 per kilogram (Rwf1,263) on average compared to last year’s $2.21 per kilogram (Rwf1,258) and $1.74 (Rwf990) in 2007. In terms of volume, 5.19 million kilograms of tea have so far been exported compared to 4.72 million exported in 2008.However, direct sales from the six factories owned by Ocir The reduced to $682,963 from $2.2 million (Rwf1.3 billion) in the period under review. The agency attributed this trend to increased auction sales on the Mombasa auction market which rose from $3 million to $4.5 million. The current trend in the tea sector is likely to boost tea production which fell by 1,000 metric tones from 20,400 metric tonnes in 2007 to 19,400 metric tonnes in 2008. Tea, one of the country’s top export crops in terms of value and volume is estimated to have fetched $44 million last year. The tea agency now targets $54m (Rwf.30.3b) this year. Ocir-the is also targeting 9,000 hectares of extra tea plantations and five extra factories by 2012, an ambition officials said will cost $41Million (Rwf.23 Billion) worth of investment. The move also intends to move the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the tea farmer from the present US$250 per annum to the vision 2020 US$900 per annum. Ends