Kenya's tea sales at the Mombasa auction has continued to suffer for the second week running following the political instability in Egypt. According to the East Africa Tea Trade Association, the instability has had a negative impact on prices with the upward witnessed earlier dropping. Last week, 26 per cent of the 135,007 packages which were on offer remained unsold with a depressed general demand which was sustained through the auction. These amounted to nearly a third of the tea on offer which remained unsold. Egypt which imports 23 per cent of all tea export through Kenya has remained a top importer of Kenyan tea beating key markets among them Pakistan and Afghanistan. "We have experienced a major decline in terms of tea being bought from Kenya with the unstable main market which Egypt is playing a key role in the decline. Next week will be worse," EATTA marketing manager Brian Ngwiri told the star during the auction yesterday. Tea exports to Egypt stood at 42 million kilos between January-May earning the country Sh 10.4 billion where a total of 204 million kilos were sold to 58 countries at Sh52.5 billion. According to a report by Combrok Ltd, a tea brokerage company, the price of tea as by last week had dropped to Sh208 per kilo as compared to Sh284 per kilo at the same auction last year. The decline is expected to be felt more with the ongoing Muslim fasting period of Ramadhan since Muslim country's lead in tea import from Kenya. "Grade PF 1 which is popular with Pakistan had a major decline and we expect them to stop buying until after Ramadhan. Muslim countries are our main markets hence the Ramadhan will contribute to a further decline in trade," Ngwiri said. Kenya holds two auctions per week. Egypt and Pakistan take in more than 40 per cent of the Kenyan bulk tea export with 96 per cent of trade between Kenya and Egypt being on tea. The Tea Board of Kenya had earlier forecast earnings to hit Sh120 billion by the end of the year. Other top importers of Kenyan tea include the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Sudan, United Arabs, Russia and Yemen. Источник: allafrica.com/stories/201307181182.html