The average price for top grade Kenyan tea eased slightly to $3.02 per kg at this week's sale from $3.24 per kg last week, brokers said on Tuesday. Mombasa-based Africa Tea Brokers (ATB) said 108,159 packages were offered for sale, with 30,529 unsold. Last week 107,399 packages were offered for sale, with 31,399 left unsold.
Tea is a major export for the east African country, and is seen fetching a record 106 billion Kenyan shillings ($998.59 million) in 2011, up from 97 billion shillings last year. Kenya's tea auction sales fell by 9 percent to 249.3 million kilograms in the first nine months of 2011, African Tea Brokers said last week.