The weekly Mombasa Tea Auction held on the 4th, 5th, and 6th January 2021, the first auction of the year, had 10.6 million kilograms of tea offered for sale. The amount on offer decreased from 11.8 million kilograms offered in the same period last year, and 11.7 million kilograms offered in the final sale of 2020.
Of all the tea offered for sale, 9.8 million kilograms were sold compared to 10.8 million kilograms for the same period in last year and during the last sale of 2020.
The tea auction recorded a slight decrease in prices, with a kilogram selling at an average price of $1.93, compared to $2.23 for the same period last year. However, the price per kilogram showed a slight increase when compared to the $1.87 during the previous sale held on 21st and 22nd December 2020.
Meanwhile, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) and other private auctions will be licensed to auction Kenyan tea in the next one month if the Mombasa tea auction does not establish an electronic trading platform. In a bid to shore up value addition in the tea sector, the government says modalities are being explored to zero rate VAT on tea sales at the auction.
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