Kenya’s tea sector has experienced significant growth over the past eight months, thanks to a surge in demand from Pakistan, which now stands as Kenya’s largest export market. This promising development is confirmed by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, highlighting the resilience and global appeal of Kenya’s tea industry.
According to africa.businessinsider.com, Pakistan now stands as Kenya’s top export destination outside of East Africa, accounting for a larger market than the US and the Netherlands.
A breakdown of Kenya’s export earnings revealed that Pakistan purchased Kenya goods worth Ksh48.28 billion ($321.44 million) in the first 8 months of 2023. This represents a 19.29% bump over Ksh40.47 billion ($269.44 million) in the same period in 2022.
According to further analysis by Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the Netherlands, in the same period under review accounted for Ksh43.94 billion ($292.5 million) of Kenya’s export earnings and the US accounted for Ksh42.89 billion ($285.6 million).
Pakistan has acquired a taste for Kenyan tea and has become the number one consumer of the product, alongside small quantities of leather, coffee, and spices.
According to the KNBS, the poor performance of the Kenyan Shilling against major international currencies is partly to thank for the growth of Kenya’s tea market which grew by 13.54% or Ksh120.13 billion ($799.8 million) since the year began.
While revenue grew, the volume of tea exported flatlined, which buttresses the point that the currency devaluation is the reason why revenue figures for Kenya’s tea exports grew.
“Kenya shipped out 368,822.03 tonnes of tea in the January-August period, a measly 1.92 percent growth over 361,866.58 tonnes in the corresponding period of last year,” as seen in The East African, an East African news publication.
Early in the year, Pakistani tea consumers were negatively impacted by the US dollar’s scarcity, which prompted Kenya’s Agriculture Secretary Mithika Linturi to travel to Islamabad. Following the visit, Pakistani officials designated tea as a necessary import, enabling dealers in the commodity to get dollars at a higher priority.
According to the statistics, the growth in exports to the Netherlands, which mostly consisted of cut flowers, was partially attributed to the reduction in inflation in Europe, which allowed households to allocate more funds towards decorative purchases.
“The bulk of Kenya’s horticultural produce like cut flowers are sold to the European Union bloc through Amsterdam. The US, which was the biggest global destination of Kenya’s goods outside the EAC, has this year posted a dip in orders,” according to the publication.
“The data shows the world’s largest economy bought goods worth Ksh42.89 billion ($285.6 million) in eight months through August, a 17.92 percent fall from Ksh52.25 billion ($347.9 million) the year before,” the report adds.
