KIGALI (Reuters) – Burundi’s tea export revenues jumped 52 percent in 2015 from a year earlier, thanks to a fall in output of regional rival Kenya, a tea board official said on Wednesday.

Tea output in Kenya, the world’s leading exporter of black tea, fell by 10 percent last year, mainly because of dry weather conditions in East Africa’s biggest economy.

“The decline of Kenya’s tea production largely contributed to drive up prices and earnings for Burundi’s tea,” Joseph Marc Ndahigeze, the head of exports for the Burundi tea board (OTB), told Reuters.

The average export price per kilogram climbed to $3.09, against $2.17 in 2014, state-run OTB said in a report.

Tea is Burundi’s second-largest earner of hard currency behind coffee and supports 300,000 farmers in a nation of 10 million people.

OTB, which exports 80 percent of its tea through a regional weekly auction held in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, said tea export revenue totalled $32.4 million last year, up from $21.3 million in 2014, with export volumes rising by 6.6 percent to 10,495 tonnes.

The rise in Burundi tea exports has come despite nine months of political chaos that has resulted in 400-plus deaths, pushed 240,000 people into exile and hampered many elements of the nation’s fragile economy.

(Reporting by Patrick Nduwimana; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and David Goodman)

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KIGALI (Reuters) – Burundi’s earnings from tea were up by nearly 64 percent in the last nine months as sales volumes and prices increased, boosted by a drop in Kenya’s output, a tea board official said on Wednesday.

Production in Kenya, the world leading exporter of black tea, can influence the regional market, while Burundi exports 80 percent of its tea through a regional weekly auction held in Mombasa.

Burundi’s state-run tea board (OTB) said it earned $27.3 million between January and September, up from $16.7 million in the same period last year and ahead of the $21.3 million it earned in the whole of 2014.

Exports are up at 8,959,321 kg of tea this year from 7,743,972 kg last year.

The tea industry has emerged largely unscathed from several months of political unrest over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s contested third term in office that has affected other sectors of the country’s fragile economy.

Tea is Burundi’s second-largest hard currency earner after coffee and employs some 300,000 smallholder growers in a nation of 10 million people.

“The combination of higher sales and a decline of Kenya’s tea production has boosted prices as well as earnings for Burundi’s tea,” OTB’s head of exports, Joseph Marc Ndahigeze, told Reuters.

The average export price per kg jumped to $3.05 from $2.16 in 2014, OTB said in its report.

(Reporting by Patrick Nduwimana; Editing by Edith Honan, Greg Mahlich, Reuters)

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