Prices at the Kenyan tea auction in Mombasa, Kenya’s coast have fallen on speculation that the approaching wet season will boost supplies of the leaves after a spell of dry weather.
The East African Tea Trade Association says the average price of African tea fell 6% to $ 2.44/kilogram to a 5-week low.
The auction includes leaves from producers in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Prices peaked this year at $2.64/kilogram on the 10th of March. Tea buyers are delaying purchases as they are anticipating an increase in leaf supply at lower prices in coming weeks.
Kenya’s long wet season usually runs from March through to May, and it is crucial for agricultural producers in a country which largely relies on rain-fed agriculture.
Poor weather, including drought and hot temperatures, blighted tea-growing areas in and around Kenya’s Rift Valley.
