The average price of Kenya's top grade Broken Pekoe Ones tea slipped to $3.38 per kg at auction from $3.43 at the previous sale, leading trader Africa Tea Brokers (ATB) said on Tuesday. The east African economy is the world's leading exporter of black tea, which is a major source of foreign exchange, earning 112 billion Kenyan shillings ($1.34 billion) last year.
Grade Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1) sold at $2.92-$3.84 per kg at the auction, compared with $3.00-$3.86 at the previous sale, ATB said. Best Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1) sold for $2.72-$3.16, compared to $2.60-$3.16. Of the 156,760 packages on sale, 16.4 percent were left unsold. At the last sale, 14.9 percent of the 150,771 packages offered were not sold.