Top price of Kenya's best grade tea rises at auction

Reuters
A woman picks tea leaves at a plantation in Nandi Hills, in Kenya's highlands region west of capital Nairobi, November 5, 2014. REUTERS/Noor Khamis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The maximum price of the top grade Kenyan tea, Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1s), rose at auction this week compared with the previous sale, Africa Tea Brokers said in a report. Kenya is the world's leading exporter of black tea and the crop is a key foreign exchange earner for the economy. Below are tea prices from the Mombasa auction, in which tea from other producers in the region is also sold: TEA (BEST PRICES THIS WEEK PRICES LAST AUCTION GRADES) IN DOLLARS/KG IN DOLLARS/KG BP1 2.20-3.60 2.40-3.56 PF1 3.12-3.26 3.02-3.15 PD 2.45-3.44 2.45-3.28 D1 2.58-3.31 2.40-3.14 Note: BP1: Best Broken Pekoe Ones PF1: Best Brighter Pekoe Fanning Ones PD: Pekoes Dusts D1: Dusts (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by James Macharia)