Ugandan tea fetched the least price at the Mombasa Tea Auction compared to Rwanda and Kenya.
The commodity, which is one of Uganda’s main export, fetched an average of Shs4,925.65 per kilogramme.
Uganda’s tea volumes have also dipped with at least 1.64 million kilogrammes offered compared to 1.68 million kilogrammes over the same period last year.
At least, on average 247,486 kilogrammes of tea offered by Uganda remain unsold.
According to sales reports at the tea auction, Rwanda’s tea is fetching a premium price, overshadowing price offers from other teas.
Market data indicates that the price of Rwandan tea stood at Shs9,953.21 a kilogramme in the sale held last week.
Kenya’s stood at Shs7,847.07 per kilograme, which was slightly better than what was offered for Uganda’s tea.
Rwanda has often led when it comes to the best tea, fetching a premium price compared with others from the region.
“The quality of Rwandan tea has always been high and this is the sole reason the beverage always attracts a premium price,” said a tea broker at the auction.
On average, all the tea at the auction fetched Shs7,473.4 per kilo. The teas comprise the ones that are processed locally, multinational firms and other 10 countries that sell their beverage through the Mombasa auction.
All regional teas are marketed at the Mombasa auction by the East African Tea Traders Association before they are shipped out of the region.
Kenya, which is the leading tea exporter in the world, leads the auction in terms of volumes with more than three quarters of the produce traded coming in from the country.
Prices have remained low at the auction in recent months in what has been attributed to high volumes.
However, prices have picked in the last two sales, hitting a five-month high.
Last week’s volumes dropped by 1.4 million kilogrammes, mark one of the highest declines since the beginning of the year.
The volumes have been declining in the last five sales occasioned by low volumes coming in from the factories.
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