Rwandan tea volumes down 22% at Mombasa auction

This week Rwanda offered only 398,974 kilogrammes ,of tea on the Mombasa auction market compared to last week’s 512,640 kilogrammes, according to Africa Tea Brokers Limited. The volume, which was auctioned on Monday and Tuesday this week, represents a 22 percent decline compared to last week. The Director General of Rwanda Tea Development Authority (Ocir-The), Anthony Butera said that the quantity offered entirely depends on how much is available in Rwanda’s tea warehouse based in Mombasa. “There could be less tea in our stores. We always restock our warehouse in Kenya whenever volumes are low to maintain quantities for auctioning.” The weekly tea report by the Africa Tea Trade Centre ltd shows that there was a general decline of 8.5 percent in the tea offered for auction from eight African countries out of 11 countries that are registered on the market. A total of 6.789 million kilogrammes was offered this week compared to 7.419 million kilogrammes availed last week. Only 90.5 percent of the tea was sold last week at an average price of $2.21 a kilogramme. The report says that primary grade tea was sold at an average of $1.6 a kilo last week while the secondary grade traded at an average of $1.02 per a kg. Records of this week’s auction are yet to be availed. About 70 percent of Rwanda’s tea, which is the country’s second revenue generating crop after coffee, is sold through the Mombasa auction market. The remaining percentage is through direct sales and local consumption. Tea export statistics from Ocir-The show that the crop generated $11.6 million (Rwf6.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2009. The agency projects $54 million (Rwf30.3 billion) from tea by the end of the year. Ends

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Rwandan tea volumes down 22% at Mombasa auction