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Tea factories that produce quality green leaves attract better prices at the Mombasa tea auction and the annual bonus according to a new report.

In a survey, Gacharage, Ngere and Mununga tea factories attracted better returns at the auction for their growers at the end of the year. In the approval of bonus payment, the directors are keen on debts, production costs and factory equipment maintenance.

Tea value chain expert Peter Karomo said bonus payment is arrived at upon considerations of production costs, debts, auction prices, and cost of production.

Karomo pleaded with the directors to ensure production costs remain low and maintain well the fleet of green leaf collection trucks. “It is absurd that the farmers went on tea plucking boycotts in various parts of the country due to lack of facts as the cost of production consumes millions of shillings and needs to be addressed,” said Karomo.

In the latest Mombasa tea auction, Momul got Sh27 million, Ngere Sh25.4 million, Makomboki Sh20.4 million, Rukiriri Sh19.2 million and Mungania Sh16.1 million while Imenti got Sh18.2 million. On February 28, the price per kilo of tea for export at Mununga was Sh361, Rukiriri Sh338, Gathuthi Sh337, Imenti Sh328, and Kimunye Sh325.

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