The average price of Kenya's top tea grade fell for the first time in six weeks at auction to $4.36 per kilo from $4.42 at the previous sale, brokers said yesterday.

The East African producer is the world's leading exporter of black tea, which is also a leading hard currency earner, raking in $1.27 billion last year.

Africa Tea Brokers said Best Broken Pekoe Ones fetched $4.05-$4.66 per kilo, up from $4.02-$4.82 per kilo attained at last week's auction.

Best Pekoe Fanning Ones sold for $3.70-$3.90 per kilo, compared with $3.76-$4.00 per kilo, ATB said in a regular market report. ATB said 129,980 packages were offered for sale, with 8.43 percent going unsold. Last week, 129,079 packages were offered with 15 percent going unsold.

The main buyers during the auction were from Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan and Kazakhstan, ATB said. It said that the auction will go on break for Christmas and New Year holidays and will resume on January 2.