Rwanda’s tea earnings declined to $929,389 (about Rwf745.4 million) during last week’s Mombasa tea auction, from $942,349 (about Rwf755.8 million) the previous week, data from the National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB) indicates.

The volumes sold also dropped as the country sold 308,628 kilogrammes of tea compared to 388,196kg sold during the previous auction, a report from NAEB shows. Rwanda exports its teas through the Mombasa auction. The beverage was at $3.02 per kilo at last week’s auction, up from $2.43 per kilo during previously.

The country exports 21.5 per cent of its tea to the UK, 21.2 per cent goes to Pakistan, 16 per cent to Egypt, 15.6 per cent to Yemen, and 10.6 per cent to Somalia, among others.

Rwanda’s tea export receipts rose to $18.8 million (Rwf14.9 billion) during the first three months of 2016, up from $17.7 million during the same period last year. According NAEB, Rwanda exported 6,811,095 million kilos of tea during the first quarter of the year, fetching $18.8 million.

This was largely attributed to new plants that came on line; Muganza Kivu Tea Factory in Nyaruguru District, Southern Province, and other three processing plants in Karongi, Mushubi, and Rutsiro that "were instrumental in encouraging farmers to increase production and quality”.

NAEB targets to increase tea export earnings to $94.9 million by 2018. The country earned almost $73 million (about Rwf57.2 billion) in 2015 from tea exports, up from $52 million in 2014, according to statistics from the central bank.  

In 2015, total exports recorded poor performance, dropping by 6.8 per cent in value to stand at $558.8 million, a drop from $599.8 million in 2014, but volumes increased by 20.5 per cent.