Tea trading at one of the major auctions on the continent, Mombasa in Kenya has started picking following reports of good rains in most countries.
Malawi is among the countries that auction its tea at Mombasa.
A latest weekly report from one of the international tea brokers, Van Rees, indicates a good start on the Mombasa auction.
“The year 2016 started in Mombasa by celebrating a record crop figure for November. We have [also] received reports of good ongoing rainfall on both sides of the Rift which will support and perhaps prolong the flush,” reads part of the report.
Van Rees further said Limbe auction figures are slowly moving up and that the movement has resulted into easier prices although the auction started around last week’s valuations.
“Although the auction figures are creeping up, we received reports that over the period 30 November – 3 January there has been 20-40 percent less rain in the planting districts, compared to the same period last year. Forecasts however are positive and predict more precipitation,” reads the report.
The report concludes that there has been good rainfall and that auction quantities show an upward trend and hopefully availability will improve in 2016.
For the past three to four months, the Limbe auction has experienced the worst auction following the dry spell experienced in the country.
The auction resorted to a fortnight trading, but sometimes could not trade at all, as there was no leaf.
During the month of August, production reached record low of only 830, 158 metric tonnes from an average of 1.5 million metric tonnes for the month over the past six years, owing to extreme dry and dire weather conditions.
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