Kenyan tea prices rose at this week's auction helped by cold weather that cut output and expectation congestion at Mombasa port will ease, traders said on Wednesday. Kenya this week ordered the port, which is vital to tea exporters, to stay open permanently to ensure faster movement of goods. The African Tea Brokers (ATB) said 76,230 packages were offered at the auction, with 9,759 unsold.
At the previous sale, 87,434 packages were offered and 14,170 went unsold. "Prices were generally fully firm to dearer. I believe that is because of the shortage of tea which is now manifest because of the cold season. It is forcing people to compete a little bit harder," said one trader with a leading export company.
"We should see higher and higher prices, all things being equal, until we get the short rains in October." The trader said the auction was selling five million kgs of tea per week on average, compared with 9 or 10 million kgs per week during the peak season.