It is the beverage of choice for many Ugandans. In fact, if our interview was conducted during the morning, the odds that a pot of tea would have been ordered are quite high. Yet to come to the conclusion that there is more than a storm in Uganda’s teacup is anything but a stretch. Uganda’s tea sector has run into a perfect storm and help from the government is not assured after the deputy secretary to the treasury, Patrick Ocailap, recently revealed that no figure for a bailout was shoehorned into the budget for the financial year (FY) 2024/25.

When I talk to Onesimus Matsiko, a tea value chain consultant who also serves as the Uganda Tea Outgrowers Association chief, optimism is in scant supply.

“The tea industry has not recovered,” he tells me matter-of-factly.

Balding, he trims his hair short. While this makes him look neat, the manner in which prices of Uganda’s teas have been trimmed in recent times has left players in the tea value chain crying foul. It is not just persistently low prices that the players are grappling with. For instance, during the sale 31 at Mombasa, 53.5 percent of the teas remained unsold according to the tea market report by Tea Brokers East Africa Limited.

The prices of tea at Mombasa have also remained low, averaging $2.20 per kilo compared to Kolkata $3.59 per kilo and Colombo $4.10 per kilo.

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