Kenya Tea Industry Performance Report - 2024 August

Tea production for August 2024 was lower by 6.94 Million Kgs from 45.57 Million Kgs recorded during the same period last year to 38.62 Million Kgs. It was also lower compared to 40.82 Million Kgs recorded during July and was the lowest monthly production from January to August 2024. The decline in production was attributed to generally low rainfall and cool weather conditions experienced in the tea-growing regions within the West and East of Rift Valley, respectively.

During August, most of the tea-growing areas within the West of Rift experienced low to moderate rainfall of between 1 Imm to 30 mm daily except Kericho, which recorded higher precipitation ranging from 16 to 80 mm daily. However, precipitation within the tea growing areas in the East of Rift was relatively lower compared to the West of Rift at a maximum of less than 15 mm daily. Within the two regions, the average minimum temperatures were also low and ranged between 8 ⁰C to 13 ⁰C.

Consequently, production in tea growing areas within the West of Rift Block was significantly lower by 4.56 Million Kgs from 35.65 Million Kgs recorded in August 2023 to 31.09 Million Kgs. Similarly, the output in the East of Rift Block was lower by 2.38 Million Kgs from 9.92 Million Kgs to 7.53 Million Kgs. Within the West of Rift, the most affected producers were the Independent and Estate factories, respectively due to their wider coverage in areas that experienced low rainfall conditions; mostly in Bomet and Nyamira Counties. Consequently, Independent tea producers who majorly source Greenleaf from smallholder farmers recorded a production decline of 2.82 Million Kgs from 13.16 Million Kgs to 10.34 Million Kgs. Similarly, output from the Estate tea factories was lower by 2.09 Million Kgs; from 13.76 Million Kgs to 11.67 Million Kgs. Due to depressed rainfall conditions in the East of Rift, the Smallholder tea producers under the Management of KTDA recorded lower production by 1.84 Million Kgs from 18.12 Million Kgs recorded during the corresponding month of 2023 to 16.28 Million Kgs.