COVID-19 Slows Demand On Kenyan Tea Globally As Production Hikes

Kenyan tea farmers are feeling the #COVID-19 heat after the demand for tea exports have shrunk in key global markets following travel restrictions caused by the pandemic according to a market report recently released.

The report by the Tea Directorate has revealed that Kenya’s total tea exports have decreased from 44.7 million kilogrammes sold in the international market in March 2019 to 44.2 million sold in March 2020.

Sadly according to the report, the decreased demand for Kenyan tea in the exports markets has begun at a time when Kenya is registering its highest production of the product.

It cannot be plainly said that the low demand has been fully caused by COVID-19 as countries such as Italy which has been hardest hit by the deadly virus has imported the majority of the Kenya tea followed by the United Kingdom and the United States of America in March 2020.

Kenyan tea major buyers Egypt and Pakistan reduced their importation from a regular 19 percent to a worrying 10 percent as compared to 2019 with Pakistan still leading in the amount of tea it imported from Kenya with 14.3 million kilogrammes despite the decline in its usual amounts.

Pakistan bought 17.5 million kilogrammes in March 2019 compared March 2020 while Egypt imported 7.1 kilogrammes of Kenyan tea in March 2020 compared to the 7.8 kilogrammes it imported in March 2019.

“The increased production was occasioned by high rainfall experienced in tea growing regions,” the Tea Directorate report reads adding that tea production hit a high of 55.7 million kilogrammes in March 2020 which leaves a large percentage of the commodity in the country to be locally sold.

Kenyan tea markets abroad that also registered a decrease include China which reduced its demand for our tea by 31 percent, Japan by 66 percent, Iran by 68 percent and Afganistan by 39 percent with the number of countries where the tea is being exported increasing from 43 countries in March 2019 to 46 in March 2020.

Countries that increased their uptake of Kenyan tea in the month of March 2020 as compared to their importation of the commodity in March 2019 include Yemen, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Sudan and Kazakhstan.

Kenyan tea prices in the markets have reduced by 6.6 percent to 213.5 shillings (US$1.99) in March 2020 compared to 228.5 shillings (US$2.13) in March 2019.

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