Kenya's 2010 tea output jumped 27 percent to 399 million kg from the previous year and earnings rocketed 40 percent to 97 billion shillings ($1.21 billion), the country's industry regulator said on Monday. Kenya, the global leader in black tea exports, produced 314 million kg that earned it 69 billion shillings in 2009.
"The drivers of growth for 2010 were purely good weather and a stable foreign exchange rate," said Sicily Kariuki, managing director at the Tea Board of Kenya told a news conference. "This brings the tea industry as the leading export earner in this country."
Production would likely fall to 360 million kg in 2011 due to unreliable rainfall, Kariuki said.
Good rains for most of 2010 spurred agricultural output in east Africa's largest economy. Horticulture had a rosy 2010, having raked in 78 billion shillings from 71.6 billion previously.
The tea board said exports to the emerging Asian economies boosted Kenyan earnings. "The growing economies of India and China have seen the middle class increase tea consumption," Kariuki said.
The average price for tea sold at the Mombasa auction rose slightly to $2.75 per kg in 2010 from $2.72 in the previous year.