RAINS LOOK TO BOOST SUPPLIES OF TEA FROM AFRICAN ORIGINS

TEA supply from Africa's major origins is expected to show an increase towards the end of his year, as growing areas in Kenya and Uganda are now experiencing favorable weather conditions. According to trading sources who spoke to The Public Ledger, the anticipated increase in supply at the Mombasa auction was, however, only likely to be seen later in December and was unlikely to have much effect on the price levels at the auction. "We have already started experiencing an increase in availability of the crop because of good rains. Kabarole, Bushenyi and the Bunyoro area are all reporting more availability as a result of the rains," said the acting head of the Uganda Tea Association. However, Uganda's hopes of producing up to 57,000 tonnes of tea, up from 45,000 tonnes produced last year, had already been' shattered by the effects of drought. Traders said that in Kenya the crop had started to increase in the East Usambara area where the weather was favorable. The crop was also improving in the Nandi area and other growing regions particularly west of the Rift Valley. Peter Kanyago, a board member of the Kenya Tea Development Authority, said in mid-November that tea prices in the country could fall as a result of the boost in production arising from the good rains being experienced. The average price at Mombasa in the week ending November 13 was $2.85 per kg compared with $1.79 per kg at the same time last year. The average price for 2009 is $2.43 per kg, up from $2.27 per kg for a similar period in 2008. African tea sales volumes for the first nine months of this year fell by nearly 7 mkg from the same period last year to 212.9 mkg, but prices have continued to improve amidst the low offerings at the Mombasa auction. Although the statistics from Africa Tea Brokers showed the overall fall in sales to be low, some countries actually had large declines in the volumes exported. For instance, Kenya's sales between January and September this year fell to 153.6 mkg from 163 mkg in the same period last year. Tanzania's sales eased to 8.98 mkg from 9.4 mkg previously while Malawi's eased to 1.1 mkg from 1.8 mkg before. Malawi, which is Africa's second largest producer, sells most of its tea through the local auction.


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