Kenya is establishing international buying centres for its teas in various overseas markets to expand the reach of its commodity and diversify its export destinations.

The East African nation has launched the China-Kenya Tea Trade Centre in Fujian province to facilitate the distribution of Kenyan tea in China. A buying centre is also being set up in the United Arab Emirates to serve Middle Eastern countries.

Additionally, plans are underway to establish warehousing facilities for value-added tea in countries like Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last week, President William Ruto launched Chai Gold, an international trademark for trading Kenyan tea abroad. The first market to benefit from this initiative will be China, with one million bags of tea to be shipped by the end of this month.

Tea is a crucial foreign exchange earner for Kenya, which is the world's top exporter of black tea and hosts the second-largest tea auction in Mombasa. Earnings soared to Ksh180.5 billion ($1.27 billion) in the review period, a significant increase from the previous year's Ksh138 billion.

This surge in earnings is attributed to increased export volumes and a depreciation of the national currency, which benefited exporters. The quantity of Kenyan tea auctioned in 2023 reached 592.29 million kilograms, up from 506.47 million kilograms in 2022.

To reduce dependence on major buyers, who currently account for 85% of total export volumes, the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) is actively exploring new markets to diversify revenue sources for this key commodity.