adminMOMBASA – Kenya’s tea exports to Egypt have fallen in the past three weeks, hurt as turmoil in the biggest market for the top grade Kenyan product hit sales, traders said.Egypt has been convulsed by protests and violence since the army deposed Mohamed Mursi on 3 July following huge rallies against the Islamist president.
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began earlier in July, had also dampened demand. During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours.
Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, a major source of revenues, which earned 112 billion Kenyan shillings last year.
“In a normal month, our company alone exports between 1,5 and 2 million kgs of tea to Egypt, but in the last three weeks, we exported nothing, and received no orders from Egypt,” Kevin Dago, a tea manager at exporting firm Juja in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, told Reuters.
Speaking from the company’s warehouse surrounded by piles of 60kg bundles of black tea in khaki bags awaiting export, he said they had now turned attention to other export markets such as Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan.
The Tea Board of Kenya had earlier projected tea earnings would hit 120 billion shillings this year, but that forecast was made before the eruption of unrest in Egypt. – Fin24
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derick.khumalo