The average price of Kenyan top grade of tea went down to KES 333.48 ($3.97) per kg at auction this week at the Mombasa-based Africa Tea Brokers (ATB). This is a drop from KES 336 ($4.00) per kg last week.

This week, 105,421 packages were offered for sale of which 21.4% went unsold, whereas last week, 96,066 packages were on offer where 12.6% did not sell. According to ATB, United Kingdom and Iran were more active but Kazakhstan which showed strong support.

According to a market report by ATB, Best Broken Pekoe Ones (TEABP1-BEST-KE) sold at KES 356.16-KES 310.80($4.24-$3.70) per kg, from KES 349.44 - KES 322.56($4.16-$3.84) from last week.

Kenya is the world's biggest exporter of black tea, with tea as a cash crop being  among our largest foreign exchange earners. Last year alone, the crop fetched in KES 106.68 billion ($1.27 billion).

[caption id="attachment_19684" align="alignnone" width="620"] Latest ATB Market Report[/caption]

The Tea Board of Kenya however that  the country's full-year production is expected to exhibit a 5% drop to 358 million, compared with last year's 377 million kg, after extreme weather in the first half.