Irony of rising tea exports, shrinking gains for farmers

Kenya may be shipping more tea to the world than ever before, but the growing export volumes are not translating into better returns for the small-scale farmers.

For a country that boasts to be the third leading tea producer globally, Sh12 a kilogram as bonus, no doubt, sounds like an insult to a small-scale farmer who believes he has had a good season.

It explains why some farmers are chopping off their bushes out of anger, terming the business a loss.

But the forces that dictated this dismal return, which most of it will be gobbled up as loan payments to their co-operatives, are beyond the farmers’ manipulation or understanding.

For example, since unrest broke out in Sudan, exports of Kenya’s tea to the country have never recovered to the 2022 levels. As a result, tea exports in kilograms to the country dropped by 26.5 per cent between 2022 and 2025.

In value, tea exports to the country also shrunk by 28.9 per cent.

This is in addition to the US-Iran war that roped other Middle Eastern countries, further complicating shipping routes and re-export trade.

For this reason, Oman has emerged as a new destination of Kenya’s tea for re-export purposes away from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In 2022, Kenya exported 20.0 million kilograms of tea to Sudan, valued at Sh4.5 billion. In 2023, this figure went down to 12.1 million kilograms valued at Sh2.9 billion.

This figure went down further to 6.2 million kilograms (Sh2.8 billion) in 2024 and contracted again in 2025 to 5.3 million kilograms (Sh1.3 billion).

“Due to market access challenges occasioned by internal conflict in Sudan, there was a dip in tea exports to that market by 13.56 per cent,” reads the Kenya Tea Industry Performance Report 2025 by the Tea Board of Kenya.

The report elaborates that other challenges that affected the markets include continued disruptions along the Red Sea shipping route occasioned by the attacks on vessels transiting through the corridor by the Yemen Terrorist group.

“This prompted several shipping lines to suspend their operations through the route thus reverting to using the Southern tip of Africa as an alternative transhipment route, whose shipment duration is much longer and costs more from the Port of Mombasa,” the report says.

According to the report, Kenya tea exports grew 9.8 per cent in 2025 as the country shipped over 652.8 million kilograms of the commodity valued at Sh186.9 billion.

Kenya’s hand in Sudan’s internal conflict exacerbated the situation as the Sovereign Council of Sudan issued a ban on tea from the country due to its role in the fight between Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces.

Either way, Chad has now emerged as a favourable market.

The report notes that over the last two years, Chad, which is a land-locked country, has developed as an emerging market for Kenya tea through direct importation following the blockage of trade routes with Sudan.

“Before the conflict in Sudan, Chad would get its import supplies, including tea, from Sudan. However, it has now shifted to Nigeria and Cameroon as alternative import transhipment routes,” it says.

Exports to Chad have improved to Sh851.8 million in 2025 from Sh19.5 million in 2022.

Away from the continent, Kenya’s tea is also trying to find either new markets or routes to traditional destinations due to global conflicts.

The report notes that growth in exports to Kazakhstan in the period was driven by the shifting preference of the market to Kenyan tea compared to teas from other origins.

“Oman is rapidly growing as an emerging market for Kenya tea following its re-positioning as a regional re-export and logistics hub for the Gulf Region, particularly to Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran,” it adds.

The United Nations, through the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), notes how the 2026 conflict escalation in the Middle East disrupted shipping routes and maritime trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

This has raised transport and insurance costs and reduced shipping activity through the Strait.

This has deeply affected the United Arab Emirates (UAE) role as a trade route for re-export commodities.

It notes that although the Persian Gulf is not a production region for coffee, cocoa or tea, the UAE serves as an important regional trading and re-export hub, particularly for tea and increasingly also for coffee.

In a 2026 report titled Price dynamics in global beverage markets: Trends, drivers and consequences, FAO, however, notes that the direct impact on global coffee, cocoa and tea trade flows remains limited because the principal international trade routes for these commodities do not normally transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Tea imports into the UAE originate primarily from India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, while coffee is sourced mainly from Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Brazil and India,” the report says.

It explains that re-exports from the UAE are directed largely to neighbouring regional markets, particularly the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

“The conflict affected the movement of beverage commodities into and out of the region, with its impact largely confined to regional trade and logistics rather than global commodity markets, where prices continued to be driven primarily by global supply and demand fundamentals,” the report says.

This price, however, is not growing in favour of small scale farmers. For example, in the last four years, the quantity of tea exports has grown almost 10 per cent faster than its value.

In 2022, the quantity of exports stood at 450.3 million kilograms, which grew to 652.8 million kilograms in 2025. This is a 44.97 per cent growth.

However, the value of export in 2025 stood at Sh186.9 billion, a growth of 35.34 per cent compared to Sh138.1 billion in 2022.