Burundi’s tea export revenues fell 3.2 percent in August compared with the same period in the previous year due to low volumes of sales, a tea board official said on Wednesday.State-run tea board (OTB) said it collected US$2.07 million in August from the export of 621,830 kg, down from US$2.14 million earned the same month in 2011 from the sale of 717,121 kg.“Tea sold in August was produced in July and during that period harvest of tea leaves in most growing areas wasn’t good as it was the beginning of drought,” OTB’s export official Remy Ndayininahaze, told Reuters.“This is the main reason behind that fall in earnings.”Meanwhile, the year/year export average price per kilogram climbed to US$3.34 versus $2.99 last year and OTB attributed this to a stronger regional market.“Prices at Mombasa market were high following a fall in output of the Kenyan tea,” said Ndayininahaze.Kenya is the top tea producer in East Africa and landlocked Burundi exports 80 percent of its commodity through a regional weekly auction held in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
