Unrest is unsettling Kenya’s tea sector just as it began to steady itself after two difficult years of declining exports, high unemployment, and domestic conflict over the fast-rising cost of food and housing.
One man was killed on May 26, and more than 100 were arrested in Kericho County, where police charged 11 people for destroying nine harvesting machines, tractors, and a police car, according to The East African. Turmoil began in October and has not yet abated.
Protests, vandalism and theft of green leaves forced Ekaterra/Lipton and James Finlay Kenya to limit operations until police could restore security. Ekaterra locked out facilities, idling 16,000 workers for an indefinite period. Growers, government officials, and workers undertook talks in joint efforts to reopen plantations.
Double-digit unemployment amid declining tea exports is blamed for a long-simmering animosity between Ekaterra management and casual workers. The Dutch company is the world’s largest tea company with a portfolio of brands that includes Lipton Tea and Infusions, PG Tips, Pukka Herbs, Brooke Bond, and 30 regional brands.
Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) chairman Silas Njibwakale told the Daily Nation, “What started in October 2022 with daylight raids and theft of tea leaves and machinery has now escalated to organized attacks on business premises and deliberate destruction of critical assets.”
According to the growers association, workers have destroyed 15 tea harvesters in the past seven months. Raiders have also stolen tea from both James Finlay and Ekaterra facilities. According to the association, damage to equipment and fixed assets in the past few years amounted to more than 50 million Kenyan shillings (about $360,000).
Njibwakale called on Kenya’s president Ruto to restore order and protect foreign investment to “avoid a situation where Kenya loses its international tea market niche.”
At a press conference Arthur Sewe, who chairs the East Africa Tea Trade Association (EATTA), said, “Invaders illegally pluck the green leaf in broad daylight. This means there could be some factories buying from them,” according to an account in The Star. EATTA sent a warning to members to stop processing leaves from unknown suppliers. “Any of our members running these tea factories found absorbing stolen leaf will be dismissed or de-registered and not allowed to trade at auction,’’ said Sewe.
According to Sewe, tea produced in Kenya accounts for 40% of sales at the Mombasa Auction. Shutting down the nation’s tea gardens would cost Kenya $2.5 million weekly in lost foreign exchange currency (KSh350 million).
Most of Kenya’s tea is grown in Nandi, Nyamira, Bomet, and Kericho counties. Curtailing operations cost Kenya’s tea industry millions of shillings a week in lost production. Availability has also impacted prices. Mombasa Tea Auction reported prices declined 5% following five weeks of political protests beginning in March. Nairobi police arrested hundreds who defied a government ban on public rallies weekly for five weeks.
Raila Odinga, a former prime minister who lost his latest electoral bid for the presidency, encouraged anti-government protestors to vent their anger in the streets. Last week a crowd of 500 on the steps of Parliament was dispersed with tear gas while protesting a proposed tax hike on fuel, housing, and the internet.
Uncertainty led Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture to announce in late May that Tanzania’s teas (valued at $38.8 million in 2021) would be sold at the digital auction based in Dar es Salaam beginning in June. The digital auction at Tanzania's Mercantile Exchange was established in 2020 so that tea sellers could avoid traveling nine hours to Mombasa. Growers cannot sell tea abroad; local blenders must buy it at the auction.