Rwandan tea has been selling at better prices compared to Kenyan tea at the coastal tea auction. The tea is rated as being better quality than the local tea hence the premium prices from international traders.
The Mombasa Tea Auction is a platform where tea from Kenya and neighboring countries is sold to international buyers. Kenya is one of the top producers of black tea globally. Therefore, the largest share of the commodity at the auction comes from Kenya.
Although Kenya has traditionally attracted high tea prices, it has been shedding its attractiveness due to low quality commodity.
The tea sector in Kenya has been plagued by several issues which may have led to the decline in the quality of the top export commodity. Firstly, tea farmers often complain of low pay which has led some of them to abandon their tea farms. Secondly, the large tea farms have suffered from labor unrest in the last year which resulted in the destruction of several tea farms.
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