Tea trends in Africa

WHAT a little change in weather can do – a lot, in Africa. In the past few months, the tea industry in Kenya saw an upsurge due to early rainfall that boosted crop growth. The country’s production more than doubled to  33.3 million kilograms in March, as compared to 17.8 million kg in the same period in 2012, says the Tea Board of Kenya.

Sub-sectors, particularly smallholders reported increased yield from 11.2 million kg to 18.7 kg, as a result of scattered rains occurring in mid-March, signalling the start of the rainy season which falls between March and May. In the same period last year, tea-growing areas did not receive the same precipitation, and was in fact hot and dry, according to the Board’s managing director Sicily Kariuki.

From January to May this year, cumulative production amounted to 117.2 million as against 72. 4 million kg for the same period in 2012. In terms of total export volume, figures are not quite as distant, at 36.1 million in March 2013 versus 35.4 million for the same period in 2012. However the number of export destinations this year has gone up from 38 to 42.

Kenya is amongst the major producers of tea from Africa. Its output of black tea is mainly shipped to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and the United Kingdom and to a few other countries on a sporadic basis. The largest importer is Pakistan, absorbing 7.8 million kg, or 22% of the total export volume.

Unilever Ghana, the maker of Lipton, is one of the largest buyers of tea from Kenya. In April, the company commissioned the Lipton Tea Factory in Tema city, about 25 km from the capital Accra, to supply markets in in Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. With a new factory, the company expects to increase its orders of tea. Outside Africa, Lipton continues to enjoy high demand, and this is all good news for small growers of black tea in Kenya.Already anticipating increased orders, many of them are expanding plantations and building tea factories. Producers of dairy have been noted to give up the business and move on to tea growing.

Rwanda is also considered a leading global tea producer, with output reaching 24,000 tonnes annually. Unlike Kenya, its weather,  soil  and  high elevated grounds all contribute to consistent tea quality. According to Rwanda’s National Agriculture Export Development Board (NAEB), about 97% of tea is exported in raw form; 60% of Rwanda tea is sold in auction, 37.3% is sold directly and 2.7% goes to the local market.

Being one of the country’s major exports, tea has been considered a priority product by the government. As early as 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture has had a strategy in place to augment production. Recently, the Ministry revealed its target to grow tea in 18,000 hectares of land between now and 2017, as part of the second phase of the programme, ‘New tea plantations and factory construction approach.’ The first phase, from 2004 to 2012, the government oversaw plantations in 20,665 hectares of land. Whilst climate and land may not be a problem, the government is challenged by other setbacks, including infrastructure, energy resources, and influencing farmers to grow tea.

In Mozambique, the tea industry has declined in favour of imported tea. Few farmers would like to venture as most of them have no means to invest in equipment, fertiliser and other farming needs. In general, the country has poor agricultural  technology, but the government hopes to revive production and has sought investment and technical know-how from India’s Tea Board.

In an audience with Tea Board head, G.V.K. Bhanu  and businessmen, Mozambican  ambassador José  Maria Morais , revealed that the country has 39,000 hectares of tea plantations, with only  2,4000 operated by private companies. Many of these plantations were abandoned during a civil war. Currently only five plantations are in operation, and these are founAir Max 95 20th Anniversary