Kenya records first decline in export earnings since 2019 amid weak tea, coffee sales
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that overall exports stood at Sh554.08 billion, down from Sh571.6 billion in the same period last year.
Kenya’s exports shrank in the first six months of 2025, the first decline in six years, after a steep drop in tea sales cut earnings by Sh17.5 billion and widened the country’s trade deficit to Sh783.91 billion.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that overall exports stood at Sh554.08 billion, down from Sh571.6 billion in the same period last year.
More To Read
- Agriculture and Food Authority licenses 152 coffee dealers, rejects claims of export monopoly
- Kick out officials stealing from farmers, Wetang’ula urges cooperative members
- Corrupt coffee society leaders to lose properties, CS Wycliffe Oparanya warns
- CS Mbadi defends Treasury over unequal VAT policy on tea, sugarcane
- Kenya aims to quadruple tea exports to China by 2030
- Kenya land standoff sends warning to foreign-owned tea estates
The 3.06 per cent decline ended a five-year streak of growth, highlighting Kenya’s vulnerability to swings in global commodity markets and its dependence on a few countries for the bulk of its largely raw agricultural exports.
According to KNBS, which bases its data on trade captured at border points by the Kenya Revenue Authority, the fall in exports was largely driven by tea. Kenya’s tea, whose main markets include Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and Egypt, earned Sh90.12 billion in the first half of 2025, down 12.05 per cent from a record Sh102.47 billion during the same period in 2024.
This marked the first contraction in tea earnings since 2019, when revenues dropped 23.80 per cent to Sh56.46 billion. Both export volume and value fell, with 315,036 tonnes of tea sold abroad compared with 320,564 tonnes a year earlier, a marginal 1.72 per cent decline. Average prices at the Mombasa Tea Auction also softened.
The report also noted that tea production decreased from 52.1 thousand MT in May 2025 to 42.4 thousand MT in June 2025, while auction volumes dropped from 33.4 thousand MT to 32.3 thousand MT. In contrast, average auction prices rose from $1.91 per kg (Sh247.06 per kg) in May to $2.01 per kg (Sh259.66 per kg) in June.
“For the first half of 2025, the average auction price stood at $2.12 per kg (Sh273.73 per kg) compared to $2.20 per kg (Sh284.35 per kg) recorded in the corresponding period of 2024,” KNBS noted in its Leading Economic Indicators June 2025 report.
Tea exports also decreased from 55.7 thousand MT in May to 46.9 thousand MT in June, with earnings dropping from Sh15.4 billion to Sh12.6 billion.
Despite weak tea earnings, other key exports posted strong growth. Coffee earnings surged 83.68 per cent to Sh35.38 billion from Sh19.26 billion a year earlier, while cut flower exports rose by 19.48 per cent to Sh47.08 billion.
However, the volume of coffee auctioned at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange fell sharply from 3.2 thousand MT in April 2025 to 0.4 thousand MT in May, even as average auction prices increased from $6.37 (Sh823.33 per kg) to $6.97 (Sh900.58 per kg) per kg. The Nairobi Coffee Exchange was in recess in June 2025.
Coffee exports also decreased from 7.4 thousand MT in May to 4.6 thousand MT in June, with earnings falling from Sh7.4 billion to Sh4.5 billion.
KNBS also indicates that sugarcane deliveries increased from 383.1 thousand MT in May to 477.4 thousand MT in June, but total deliveries for the first half of 2025 were 3,617.5 thousand MT, down from 4,573.7 thousand MT in the same period in 2024. Retail prices of key staples shifted as maize rose from Sh61.0 per kg in May to Sh64.0 in June, while beans fell from Sh150.4 to Sh148.7 per kg.
The total value of trade declined from Sh322.8 billion in May to Sh313.2 billion in June. Export earnings fell from Sh95.0 billion to Sh85.2 billion, while import values rose slightly from Sh227.8 billion to Sh228.0 billion.
In June 2025, Kenya’s top export destinations were Uganda (Sh11.0 billion), the United States (Sh5.8 billion), and the Netherlands (Sh5.3 billion). Food and beverages accounted for 45.0 per cent of exports, non-food industrial supplies 25.0 per cent, and machinery and other capital equipment 1.7 per cent.
Leading import partners were China (Sh55.1 billion), the United Arab Emirates (Sh26.7 billion), and India (Sh21.6 billion). Non-food industrial supplies formed 36.2 per cent of imports, followed by fuel and lubricants at 20.1 per cent, machinery and other capital equipment at 14.0 per cent, and food and beverages at 11.7 per cent.
Top Stories Today
