The average price of Kenya’s top grade Broken Pekoe Ones tea slipped to $3.38 per kg at auction from $3.40 at the previous sale, leading trader Africa Tea Brokers (ATB) said on Wednesday.
The east African economy is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, which is a major source of foreign exchange, fetching 112 billion Kenyan shillings ($1.33 billion) last year.
Grade Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1) TEABP1-BEST-KE sold at $3.96-$2.80 per kg at the auction, compared to $3.80-$3.00 at the previous sale, ATB said.
Best Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1) TEAPF1-BEST-KE sold for $3.18-$2.58, compared to $3.16-$2.65.
ATB said there was slightly better demand for the 140,689 packages on sale, with 19.8% left unsold.
At the last sale, 21.8% of the 146,155 packages offered were not sold.
ATB said Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries showed strong support and there was more activity from Pakistan Packers, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan (CIS), Sudan and Russia.
Britain was less active and continued to be selective while Iran re-entered the market, it said, adding that Somalia also continued to be active. ($1 = 83.9000 Kenyan shillings).
reuters
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