Kenya tea prices gained at this week's auction on reduced supply from India due to a strike in the Darjeeling region that has badly hit the tea industry, traders said on Wednesday. Mombasa based Africa Te Brokers (ATB) said some 199,487 packages were offered for sale at the main auction and 14,256 went unsold. During the previous sale 18,280 packages of the 120,642 packages on offer had no takers.
"It was a pretty firm market. We had anticipated that prices would go up substantially because of the strikes in north India," said a senior broker. Protestors shut down the Darjeeling hills on Tuesday and industry officials have warned that exports of premium Darjeeling tea could fall 20-25 percent this year.
Top BP1s sold for $3.10-$2.72 per kg compared with the previous sale where they ranged at $3.02-$2.58. Best PF1s fetched $3.15-$2.72 compared with $3.02-$2.48 at the last auction. Kenya is a leading exporter of black tea globally. It projects output in 2008 could fall to 335 million kg from 369 million kg in 2007 due to unfavourable weather in growing areas.