Uganda tea exports to earn $47.6m this year
Uganda's tea export earnings are projected to grow by 20 per cent this year to earn about $47.6 million, a Uganda Tea Association official said last week.
Isaac Munabi, the association's executive secretary, said although Uganda exported more tea last year, foreign exchange earnings during 2005 equalled the previous year's figure.
In 2004, tea exports totalled 29.7 million kg and rose to 33.07 million kg in 2005. However, earnings for each of the two years totalled $37.7 million.
Mr Munabi said Uganda's tea exports were projected to rise by 15 per cent to 38 million kg this year due to good rainfall in the tea-growing regions.
Uganda exports over 95 per cent of its tea, most of it through the Mombasa Tea Auction.
The tea association official said fewer Ugandans were drinking tea due to rising poverty.
The association, with a membership of 13 companies, controls about 95 per cent of the country's tea industry.
However, it is not involved in the marketing and promotion of the tea industry. Individual companies market their teas under their own names at the Mombasa auction. The association is also not involved in the promotion of tea drinking locally.
Mr Munabi said Uganda tea producers and exporters were largely dependent on the Mombasa auction for marketing the commodity. "Several companies have burnt their fingers when they tried to market their teas through other avenues," he said.
Ugandan company was exploring ways and means of exporting specialty teas to Japan. A Japanese company had made inquiries about the possibility of buying teas grown at high altitudes.
The association had applied for financial assistance from an Arab bank to carry out research on marketing the country's teas, he said.
To step up production," he said, "the government had provided free tea seedlings to farmers."
Uganda's tea crop is mainly planted from seedlings, compared with Kenya's, which is clonal tea, the official said.
He said that colonel teas were more productive than seed teas and fetched 20-30 per cent higher prices.