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| Sunday, 6 February 2005 |
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Tea: Kenya breaks Lankan record by Elmo Leonard Sri Lanka's exports of tea for 2004 was an all-time-high of 300 million kilograms but Kenya set up a new world mark exporting 333 million kilos during the year. The previous world record of 298 million kilos for exports of tea by a single country was set by Sri Lanka in 2003. Kenya has played second fiddle to Sri Lanka in export volumes of tea during the past 20 years, except in 1995 and 1996. India is third in exports of tea volumewise. Colombo's tea trade said that Kenya is subject to great variation of weather while bearing a high potential for achieving record crops if the weather remains conducive. Kenya is a new entrant to tea compared with Sri Lanka whose industry goes back over 135 years. Most of Kenya's tea bushes are clones while a large part of Sri Lanka's tea bushes are very old. Sri Lanka's revenue from tea exports during the year was Rs 74.89 billion beating the 2003 tea export figure of Rs 65.93 billion. In dollar terms, the island's 2004 tea export figure amounted to $743 million, the highest since 1998 when export earnings reached $774 million, Anil Cooke of Asia Siyaka Commodities said. Sri Lanka's 2004 auction average was Rs 180.74 ($1.79) per kilo, a sharp climb against the 2003 average of Rs 149.05 ($1.55) per kilo, Cooke said. Sri Lanka's tea production in 2004 stood at 308 million kilos, 5 million more than in 2003. The island's highest tea production figure was 310 million kilo in 2002. Kenya's tea harvest for 2004 was 324 million kilos, breaking the record for 2003 which stood at 293 million kilos. Most tea exporter countries including Sri Lanka and Kenya purchase tea from outside their borders for blending purposes. The small quantity of tea which Sri Lanka purchased for this purpose during 2004 was not available at the time of going to press. During the year in review low-grown teas reached its highest ever figure of 183 million kilos beating the previous best of 169 million kilos in 2002. In 2003 the country's low grown tea harvest accounted for 167 million kilos. Low grown teas reap rich harvests due to good agricultural practices, regular plucking by smallholders, and conducive weather during 2004, Cooke said. During 2004, high-grown teas made up 74 million kilos, against 81 million kilos in 2003. Medium-grown teas accounted for 49 million kilos during 2004 compared to 53 million kilos in 2003. Colombo has long been by far the largest auction centre in the world. Mombasa (Kenya) has now emerged as the only international tea auction centre in the globe dealing with teas produced in Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ruwanda, Burundi, part of Malawi and some other small African producers, according to international statistics monitored in Colombo. Sri Lanka's largest tea buyers for 2004 was Russia and the CIS countries, absorbing 73.9 million kilos, according to the latest Customs statistics. The second largest buyer was UAE taking 30.3 million kilograms, followed by Syria - 28.8 million kilos, Turkey - 25.8 million kilos, Iran - 20.4 million kilos and Jordan - 14.3 million kilos. The prime destinations for purchase of Sri Lanka's pocketed teas was Russia and CIS nations, taking 15 million kilos, making up 22 percent of pocketed teas exported by the island. The country's second largest buyer of pocketed teas was Syria with 8 million kilos, or 12 percent of pocketed teas exported. The value of value-added teas exported for 2004 declined to 38 percent from 41 percent during 2003, mainly due to a drop in exports of packaged teas to Libya. "Libya purchased a lot of value-added teas in 2003," Cooke said. Russia and the CIS countries was the highest buyer of tea bags in 2004, taking up 4 million kilos or 24 percent of this category of exports. Australia was second, accounting for 1.7 million kilos (9 percent) and Poland was the third highest purchaser taking 1.2 million kilos (7 percent). Russia and CIS countries was also the highest purchaser of bulk teas taking 41 million kilos (22 percent), followed by UAE - 20 million kilos (11 percent) and Syria 19 million kilos (10 percent). |
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