Rwanda’s tea holds a record for fetching the highest prices at Mombasa tea auctions, in Kenya, outperforming brands from other regional countries, according to data from the East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA).
Currently, the Mombasa Tea Auction system gets offerings from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Ethiopia, as per EATTA. The auctions, EATTA shows, attract principal overseas interest from the major tea consuming countries in the world with the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Somalia, Canada, and Singapore, as the major players.
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The National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) indicates that due to good manufacturing practices, Rwanda's black tea (referred to as CTC) is among the best in the world, fetching premium prices either through direct contracts or auction market.
In 2022/2023 — the latest financial year for which data are available — Rwanda exported 39,000 tonnes of [made or processed] tea that generated more than $107.7 million (representing 12 per cent of Rwanda’s annual agricultural export revenues), up from more than 35,400 tonnes that fetched over $103.4 million in the previous fiscal year.
The report indicated that the increase of 4.12 per cent in the country’s tea revenues from July 2022 to June 2023 in comparison with the same period of 2021-2022 was attributed to the high volume of tea sold in 2022-2023 – where 10.18 per cent more tea was exported.
Pakistan accounts for about 25 of Rwanda’s tea export volume
NAEB CEO Claude Bizimana told The New Times that, overall, destinations for Rwanda’s tea exports vary from 20 to 25 countries.
The top buyers, he indicated, are Pakistan which accounts for about 25 of Rwanda’s tea export volume, UK with about 18 per cent, Egypt about 16 per cent, Kazakhstan about 13 percent, Ireland about 6 per cent, and Russia about 5 per cent.
"The balance of about 17 per cent is shared among the other countries,” he said.
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Green leaf production
Green leaf production amounted to more than 169,506 tonnes from July 2022 to June 2023, which represents an increase of 11.58 per cent compared to 151,913 tonnes in the same period of the previous fiscal year, as per the NAEB report.
On average, it takes 4.5 kilos of leaves to produce a kilo of made or processed tea.
The report pointed out that new tea plantations – of Gatare and Cyato in Nyamasheke District, and Rugabano in Karongi District, Western Province – and other maturing tea plantations from new tea factories contributed to the green leaf production performance.
Bizimana said that there were programmes to train tea pluckers in the range of 5,000 to 7,500 every year in addition to tea makers' calibration, to enhance their skills.
This, he observed, significantly boosted green leaf production and its quality, and as a result, the Rwandan teas remained the leading brand and fetched highest prices for their outstanding quality among the regionally produced teas traded at the Mombasa Tea Auction.