Kenya: Bomet says direct tea sales to Iran fetch Sh28m

Bomet has told tea worth Sh27.7 million ($252,000) to Iran, fetching Sh90 per kilogramme more than the current price at the Mombasa Tea Auction, the county has said. Governor Hillary Barchok says tea from farmers’ cooperatives in the region was sold for Sh330 ($3) per kg, above the current average price of Sh235 ($2.18) a kilo at the auction. According to the county, 84 metric tonnes of tea was shipped to Tehran in June after Dr Barchok announced that they had entered a deal with an Iranian buyer for direct exports of the beverage as it sought to improve growers’ earnings. At the time, the move was protested by the Agriculture ministry, which through tea reforms, had banned the direct sales of tea to the international market and ordered that it should be sold through the auction in Mombasa. But a High Court ruling in Bomet in May blocked the full implementation of the Tea Act 2020, barring direct sale of tea to export markets. On Sunday, Dr Barchok, Kenyan ambassador to Iran Moses ...