NAIROBI, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenya sought new markets for its tea to cushion itself from declined sales among some traditional buyers due to uncertainties that include war.
The Tea Board of Kenya (TBK), in a report released on Friday in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, indicated that the East African nation recorded improved growth in sales in emerging markets in 2023 as compared to 2022.
"Improved shipments were recorded in seasonal and emerging markets such as Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Qatar, South Sudan, Australia, Spain, the Central African Republic, El Salvador, Djibouti, Romania, Gabon, Angola, Hungary and South Korea," TBK said.
Notably, South Sudan and Chad are the latest emerging markets for Kenyan tea in Africa.
The TBK said Chad, which did not import tea directly from Kenya before 2023, was now one of the top 10 export destinations as it gets its imports through Nigeria and Cameroon after the war in Sudan led to blockage of trade routes.
Some of the traditional markets, including Russia and Sudan, are facing challenges because of the war conflicts.
In Britain, exit from the European Union has seen the country import less.
"The UK, which used to re-export tea to the neighboring countries, has been recording lower imports since its exit from the European Union. Similarly, exports to Russia have been declining due to market access challenges occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine crisis," said the TBK.
The expansion of markets saw the volume of tea shipped in the first 11 months of 2023 increase to 419.7 million kilos, a rise from 405.1 million kilos in a corresponding period in 2022.
Tea is one of Kenya's major foreign exchange earners, alongside horticulture and tourism.
Kenya, in 2022, earned 138 billion shillings (about 850 million U.S. dollars) from tea and was eyeing at least 1 billion dollars from the cash crop in 2023. ■
