Kenya is the world's leading exporter of black tea and the crop is a major foreign exchange earner for east Africa's largest economy, together with horticulture and tourism.
Prices for Best Broke Pekoe Ones (BP1s) sold at $2.94-$4.00 per kg compared with $3.15-$4.13 per kg last week, ATB said. Best Brighter Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1s) fetched $2.34-$3.30 per kg from $2.30-$2.95 per kg, ATB said.
It said 14.82 percent of the 143,489 packages weighing 9,2 million kg offered were left unsold. Last week, 13 percent of the 153,181 packages weighing 9.7 million kg offered were left unsold. Demand was highest from buyers from Pakistan and Afghanistan mostly, while Egyptian, Yemen and Sudan bought lower amounts.
Most of the tea sold at the Mombasa auction is from Kenya, but it also offers tea from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and other regional producers.