Oral East Africa
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— Tea lifts Kenya’s GDP, but largest producer KTDA facing management challenges.
— KTDA dismisses 200 kilos of expired tea as rumours?
— Gets boycott notices for election of sex for jobs Chebochok
Tea brews GDP;
Good El nino rains helped grow Kenya’s agriculture sector 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, compared to an expansion of 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics noted the performance was evident in the significant increase in production of tea, milk and sugarcane during the quarter under review
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Tea production increased by 42.9 per cent to stand at 168.8 thousand metric tonnes in the period under review.
Kenya found expanded market for Tea especially in the middle East where exports of Tea to Saudi Arabia rose notably along with Egypt.
Tea deluge overflowing
The good show, coupled with a weaker shilling in 2023, helped listed tea producers Kapchorua and Williamson Tea book higher revenue in the year to March 2024, but they say that future profits are under threat due to oversupply at the auction.
Industry estimates show in the second half of 2023, about 60 per-cent of stocks sent to the weekly sale went unsold and in warehouses even as additional larger consignments were shipped in on increased output.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firms Williamson Tea and Kapchorua Tea have called for the destruction of huge stocks of unsold tea held by the giant Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to save the industry from being choked by excess supplies.
KTDA management has however refuted claims that it is holding 200 million kilogrammes of expired, unsold tea, dismissing these claims as rumours.
According to small scale tea farmers, it's an open secret many KTDA managers and directors have been stating KTDA is holding unsold tea in Mombasa for the last two years.
Some of the senior officials from Rift Valley and western Kenya have accused KTDA board of management for not speaking or telling farmers the truth on unsold tea.
No sex for tea
Even as KTDA management chases credibility, its board elections have sparked controversy after John Chebochok was elected to the board of Tegat Tea factory which also owns Toror tea factory.
Mr Chebochock was publicly implicated in a BBC investigative expose for demanding sex in exchange for jobs.
Finlays and Lipton teas have issued notices to boycott the factories teas, prompting KTDA to issue a statement saying they will explore all legal avenues and open talks with concerned players including authorities to block the confirmation of Mr Chebochok as director.
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