By Benadeta Mwaura - Reporter
Kenya, January 09, 2026 - The Mombasa Tea Auction, East Africa’s premier tea trading platform, opened the year with strong volumes, selling 8,416,373 kg (127,938 packages) of tea in its first sale of 2026, attracting 48 buyers from international markets.
Kenya accounted for the lion’s share of the offering, reflecting resilience in production even amid market fluctuations. Kenyan producers offered 5,756,180 kg, mainly from KTDA-managed factories and independent estates. Uganda supplied 820,394 kg, Rwanda 593,952 kg, Burundi 52,822 kg and Tanzania 18,080 kg.
Several factories achieved premium auction prices, including Ngere and Rukuriri, as quality green leaf continued to draw competitive bids. For example, Ngere offered 125,625 kg, earning about KSh 50.7 million, while Rukuriri’s 65,552 kg fetched KSh 26.4 million.
The KTDA group earned roughly KSh 899 million from the Kenyan portion of the sale. Leading buyers included Global Tea, Chai Trading, LAB International and Mitchell Cotts, underscoring continued global interest in Kenyan teas despite mixed signals in prior auction seasons.
However, brokers reported that out of 143,799 packages offered, 27,961 were unsold, a reminder that demand can still lag depending on price levels and quality expectations. Typically, weekly Mombasa auctions see fluctuating volumes and returns. For example, in early December 2025, the market sold about 4.25 million kg of tea, fetching around KSh 1.1 billion, roughly half the volume of this week’s sale, as smaller supplies and stepped-up quality lifted per-kg prices.
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Longer-term data show that overall tea volumes at auction dipped in 2025, with 437.3 million kg sold during the year, down from 462.1 million kg in 2024, reflecting climate impacts and evolving global demand. Nevertheless, a notable drop in unsold stock levels last year, from nearly half of offerings to about 25 percent, suggested improved market efficiency.
Kenya is among the world’s top tea exporters, with tea traditionally being one of the country’s largest foreign-exchange earners, often reported as the leading agricultural export. Major destinations historically include Pakistan, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the Middle East.
While volumes at weekly auctions can vary widely, with past sales sometimes exceeding 9 million kg, the long-term trend is shaped by weather conditions, production quality, global demand, and export routes. In some years, large unsold stocks and quality concerns have weighed on prices, prompting industry calls to focus on quality improvement and diversified markets.
Tea quality remains a central driver of buyers’ interest and auction outcomes. Experts note that factories and associations are increasingly training farmers on quality green- leaf production, which can significantly influence price returns at auction. The current auction’s higher volumes and competitive pricing indicate sustained global appetite for Kenyan tea, even as exporters navigate market dynamics like production cost pressures, climate variability and shifting demand patterns among key buyers.
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