Kenyan tea prices were mixed at Tuesday's sale due to the varying quality on offer, market players said. Some 14 percent of the tea offered for sale was left unsold, the Africa Tea Brokers said in a market report.
"There were 93,858 packages on offer today, which were met with good demand but at irregular rates closely following quality," a market report by exporting firm James Finlay said.
Best BP1s sold at $2.96-$3.53 per kg compared to $2.90-$3.55 last week while top PF1s changed hands at $1.86-$2.71 per kg from $1.90-$2.40 previously. Russia, Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries bought strongly while Sudan and the UK were active, the James Finlay report said. An official from a tea packing company said that Pakistan buyers, who take most of Kenya's tea, were not very active at Tuesday's auction but were expected to increase their demand in coming sales.
Demand had fallen over the last month as nations with huge Muslim populations observed the holy month of Ramadan when believers are expected to fast during daylight hours. "It should start picking up now," said Naveed Ariff, general manager at Global Tea and Commodities.
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