Moving Kenyan Tea from Bulk Commodity to Premium Export
$2.11/kg
5-yr average bulk black CTC price
$15–290/kg
Specialty tea price range — a 7–140x premium
600,000+
Smallholder farmers who could access premium markets
Kenya’s bulk black tea sector supports hundreds of thousands of farmers, but value-added and specialty tea segments attract substantially higher prices. EDIC is supporting a coordinated platform that links processing, brand readiness, market access and trade finance.
The Opportunity
- Black CTC is Kenya's #1 export ($1.37bn) and supports 600,000 farmers
- Bulk pricing leaves significant value on the table as the $70bn global tea market shifts toward value-added segments
- Shifting from 5% to 10% value-added exports over 5 years could lift Kenya's tea earnings 36%, to $493M
The Platform
- $1M equity + $3M debt connecting SME exporters to processing, brand, market and trade finance
- Processing access via approved Common User Facility providers
- Trade finance: PO finance, receivables finance, LC/CAD-backed bridge facilities
Projected impact
- 40–60 direct facility jobs; 125–240 indirect supply-chain jobs
- ~66,000 farmer livelihoods stabilised as throughput ramps from 2.5M kg to 30M kg by Year 5
- 500–700 SMEs targeted to graduate into substantial exporters; up to 10 foreign tea processors targeted
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- partner@edicpwani.ke
- Nyali, Mombasa