Nairobi — Tea prices dipped slightly at last week’s Mombasa auction amid irregular demand for the commodity.
At this week’s auction, a kilo averaged USD2.44(Sh 297.07) down from USD2.46(Sh299.50) in the previous week.
This is the first fall in prices since September even though the prices remained at the minimum reserve price set at USD2.43(Sh296.22).
During the auction, the total volume traded was 103,572 kilos less than the previous week, the East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA)notes signaling reduced demand for the commodity.
“There was good general demand at irregular levels following quality with an aspect of price adjustment for some categories for the 205,620 packages (13,824,645.00 kilos) on offer. 138, 560 packages (9,237,266 Kilos) were sold with 19.07 per cent of packages remaining unsold.,” said EATTA managing director Edward Mudibo.
At the auction, there was strong activity from Kazakhstan and other CIS states with more interest from the UK.
Egyptian Packers maintained useful support while Pakistan Packers, Bazaar, Yemen, other Middle Eastern countries, and Afghanistan were active but at lower levels.
“Sudan showed good but selective interest in some inquiries from Russia. Iran was quiet while Local Packers maintained support. Somalia was active at the lower end of the market.”